Mobile phone camera used for complex 3D modelling

The system, known as InfiniTAM, could allow a handheld camera to scan a complex environment and instantly build a 3D model. It could be used in virtual reality or augmented reality games such as Pokemon Go, or for industrial applications such as surveying buildings, processing plants or oil rigs.

Existing systems designed to carry out 3D reconstruction on mobile devices have tended to have poor accuracy, according to Dr Victor Prisacariu, principal investigator in the Active Vision Lab at Oxford University.

“This [system] opens up the ability to reconstruct large spaces very quickly on your mobile device,” he said. “One possibility would be to take one on to a submarine and map the ocean floor, for example.”

For augmented reality games such as Pokemon Go, the system could allow the games to reconstruct and then interact with their local environment, for example by enabling the virtual creatures to hide behind trees or jump out of lakes, Prisacariu said.