Project Tango adds impressive new VR/AR experiences

Google didn’t mention Project Tango during its big I/O keynote on Wednesday, but the room-scanning software still had a chance to shine during a separate presentation. The company offered developers a look at the latest Tango improvements, including an impressive new Area Learning feature.

Area Learning essentially means that your Project Tango device can memorize the layout of an indoor space and then recall that information later. This is useful if you’re walking around a large area like a mall while using Tango to guide you around. It also makes it possible to place virtual objects into the 3D scan of a room without worrying that they’ll start to move once you look away.

Even more exciting is how Area Learning could be used in multi-user situations. If you and bunch of friends are playing a virtual or augmented reality game with Project Tango, then each device will be able to memorize the room and share that information with everyone else. The result is a more accurate representation of the space along with info on where each person is located in it.

Project Tango isn’t quite ready for primetime, but it should be hitting the market pretty soon. Google noted that Lenovo is still set to launch the first consumer device with the technology built in later this year. For now, you can check out the full I/O presentation in the video below.