On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that next month Google is planning on producing some 4,000 prototype tablets with sensors and cameras that allow for 3D tracking and mapping.¹ The prototype tablets utilize the same technology found in Google’s Project Tango Smartphone. The tablet itself will have a 7 inch screen, and all the bells and whistles included in the Project Tango Smartphone: two back facing cameras,”infrared depth sensors, and advanced software that can capture precise three-dimensional images of objects”² The Wall Street Journal’s sources also indicate that Google plans on releasing these 4,000 prototypes prior to the Google I/O Developer Conference in June.

Project Tango itself is one of the most interesting things we have seen from Google. The initial release, for the smartphone, opens the door to some wild use cases:

Our current prototype is a 5” phone containing customized hardware and software designed to track the full 3D motion of the device, while simultaneously creating a map of the environment. These sensors allow the phone to make over a quarter million 3D measurements every second, updating it’s position and orientation in real-time, combining that data into a single 3D model of the space around you.³

There are a ton of possibilities. We speculated that, “The military could throw these phones on robots, and sweep buildings and rooms; construction workers could be given an incredibly detailed map of a major project; civil engineers could use these to map and monitor old sewage lines, and subways.” While it sounds good in theory, you have to see it to really grasp the possibilities: