Cooper runs a company called Perceptual Robotics Inc . You can pan, tilt, and zoom the cameras without additional software or plug-ins. The flagship of PRI's TrueLook technology is the website of Gallery Furniture, Inc . PRI has installed 48 interactive cameras throughout the Houston furniture retailer's 35,000 square-foot showroom. But it gives you a glimpse of the future.
Cooper believes the future is now .
PRI's customers include Microsoft, IBM, Ford, Harley-Davidson, and CNN, and PRI systems have been used to enhance the websites of special events such as the Grammy awards and the NBA basketball finals. Technically, PRI's TrueLook is part of what scientists call telepresence , which includes everything from NASA's space cams, like the Hubble Space Telescope , to experimental camera-guided robots that allow surgeons to perform operations thousands of miles away. When you think about it, it's pretty remarkable. In just a few years, we've gone from hearing live events described to us over the radio, to seeing them unfold on television, to now, where we can view them on our computer screens, using cameras we aim ourselves. I'll let you decide whether it's good or bad.