Lenovo’s Project Chronos turns you into an avatar in real time

The metaverse has been gaining traction, and Lenovo is jumping on the bandwagon with Project Chronos, which can turn users into metaverse avatars. What’s the plot twist? It does so glasses-free, hands-free, and with no wearables necessary.

As always, Lenovo brought out a lot of new impressive tech at CES–and apart from laptops, there was Project Chronos. The device is small and unassuming, and it allows users to basically beam themselves into the metaverse in their avatar forms. Unlike most existing tech solutions, there are no motion-capture wearables needed. Instead, Project Chronos uses a camera to track every movement.

“Powered by the 13th Gen Intel® Core™ processor, the Project Chronos concept offers a glasses-free, full-body-movement-driven experience that enables consumers and creators to virtually control their life-like avatar without the need for any motion-capture (mocap) wearable.”

The avatar will mirror their every move, posture, and even facial expression in near-real time. However, at the moment, the technology isn’t perfect just yet: The renders are sometimes a bit clumsy, and the facial expressions do not translate well. As The Verge noted regarding the facial movements, “they looked just a little bit off — one person’s smile was closer to scary than warm.”

You can check out the promo video for yourself and decide what you think.

“With Project Chronos, the goal is to create virtual and hybrid experiences by vividly capturing full body motion and even clearly visible facial expressions in near-real time,” Lee Highsmith, an analyst at Lenovo, said in a virtual press briefing ahead of CES. 

The release date has not been confirmed as of yet, but Lenovo’s spokesperson Jeff Witt says it should be out by the end of 2023. The price has not been shared either.

Related posts: