The Japanese Will Project Live Sporting Events With 3D Hologram Technology At The 2020 Tokyo Olympics

In 2013, Tokyo was chosen to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The preparations for the games have already begun, but the official sponsor of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the Japanese telecommunications company NTT, is hoping to bring an added dimension to the competition, quite literally.

The NTT is working on a new system called “Kirari! For Arena,” Reuters reported today. The aim is to have the system up and running until the 2020 Summer Games. The NTT’s current technology requires sensors to be attached to an athlete’s body, but “Kirari! For Arena” will work on an entirely different principle.

“Kirari! For Arena” uses multiple cameras to track an athlete’s movements. The images that these cameras capture are transferred, in real time, to devices which show 3D hologram figures in different locations. The technology was demonstrated today during the NTT’s exhibition in Tokyo, Japan.

“We are hoping to establish the system and deliver the service in which people can enjoy watching games by gathering around the 3D hologram,” senior research engineer NTT Service Evolution Laboratories, Kota Hidaka, said.

Sports fans who aren’t lucky enough to get a ticket for a sporting event, and don’t feel like watching the competition on their TV at home, will have the opportunity to gather around a projected 3D hologram. This technology will also enable fans to see the players from all four directions.

The Japanese capital won the race to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Buenos Aires, beating Istanbul by 60 votes to 36, in a final round of voting, BBC reported at the time.

Lightfoot Travel called the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games “The Futurist Olympics,” reporting that the Olympic village will be staffed by robots, meant to help athletes find the nearest restaurant or train station. Apart from that, the opening ceremony at the 2020 Olympics will not use fireworks. Instead, the Japanese research company ALE will “paint the night sky with shooting stars.”

Driverless robot taxis and the fastest train in the world — a train which levitates on magnets — will be used for transportation around the Japanese capital.

In 2016, at the Rio Olympics’ closing ceremony, a Tokyo Olympics promotional video was shown and various Japanese pop culture characters from video games and anime, like Pacman, Hello Kitty, and Super Mario made cameo appearances, Kotaku reported. Even the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, appeared at the 2016 Olympics closing ceremony dressed as Mario.