Under the theme ‘Moving People Forward’, Sony’s booth at CES in Las Vegas was designed to show how the company is expanding the possibilities of entertainment through various technologies and initiatives relating to the metaverse and mobility, as well as through its collaboration with creators.
As part of its environmental efforts, some of the booth panels were made of ‘original blended material’ – an environmentally conscious paper material made from bamboo, sugar cane, and post-consumer recycled paper developed by Sony. To further reduce waste materials, Sony reused curtains from other events and rental materials.
Ahead of the exhibition’s public opening, Sony Group president and CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida explained that collaboration with creators who create Kando (emotion) is essential to advancing Sony’s purpose to “fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology.”
He also emphasised that the ‘live sharing’ of time and space is essence of entertainment and that Sony’s creation and interaction technology will support the virtual world to provide live experiences and connect them with the physical world.
The key highlights of the Sony booth were as follows:
Star Sphere
A project to bring space closer to all and discover the ‘space perspectives’ to provide an opportunity to think about the global environment and social issues. On January 3 2023, a remote controllable nano-satellite ‘eye’ equipped with a camera capable of shooting from space was launched.
Sony exhibited the ‘Space Shooting Lab’, an experimental simulator that proposes a space for experiential photography from space that Star Sphere plans to offer in the future, and a mock-up of a nano-satellite equipped with Sony camera equipment.
Technology for creators
The Sony booth showcased a range of image production solutions, including digital cinema cameras such as Venic 2, the full-frame mirrorless camera Alpha series, the VlogCam series, the professional drone Airpeak, Xperia smartphones and the Creators’ Cloud, a cloud-based media production platform.
In addition, Sony will propose high-quality sound content production through microphones and headphones for professionals and general creators.
Virtual fan engagement
Sony is conducting a proof of concept with English Premier League football club Manchester City, aiming for the realisation of the next generation of online fan communities and engagement through the combination of physical and virtual for new and existing sports fans.
In the booth, visitors could experience metaverse content as if they were in the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City’s home, reproduced in virtual space. Fans can create their own customisable avatars on their smartphones and, in the future, they will be able connect with millions of fans across the globe.
New sports fan experiences
This exhibit took visitors through the journey of sports data from data capture on the field, creating virtual content in real-time, and offering it on various platforms to fans. Multiple technologies from Hawk-Eye Innovations, Beyond Sports and Pulselive, all Sony Group companies, showcased Sony’s sports businesses’ ability to revolutionise how we capture, visualise, deliver and make interactive live-action data for the fans.
Portable volumetric capture
This exhibit showcased a prototype of a new system that can capture and distribute animated 3D reconstructions of people, objects, and spaces with low latency in any location. The system only requires seven sensors, which allows it to be set up anywhere quickly, meeting the demand for live 3D video distribution.
Spatial Reality Display
Sony unveiled a 27-inch prototype of the Spatial Reality Display (SR Display) which reproduces the real world with 3D spatial images. The larger screen format enables the display of life-sized objects so that medical images and product designs can be reproduced more realistically. At the booth, the SR Display was used to show 3D computer graphics content with applications in various fields, such as point cloud data used in VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality), as well as architecture and computer-aided design (CAD), in a virtual space.
Previsualisation powered by “mocopi”
Previsualisation technology was demonstrated using Sony’s mobile motion capture system “mocopi,” which allows creators to check their camerawork and character positions with VFX editing at the pre-production stage. A CG model was shown on the viewing monitor, synchronised in real-time with the movement of a performing model who is wearing the “mocopi” device.
PlayStation VR2 and PlayStation 5
Sony exhibited PlayStation VR2 (PS VR2), the next generation virtual reality headset for PlayStation 5 (PS5). PS VR2 has some features realised through PS VR2 Sense Technology, such as headset feedback, eye tracking, 3D audio and adaptive triggers, as well as haptic feedback from PS VR2 Sense Controller.
Sony Honda Mobility
A new prototype vehicle was exhibited from Sony Honda Mobility with a purpose to “move people, through the pursuit of innovation with diverse inspirations”.