Inside the Panoptic Studio, the Dome That Could Give Robots Super-Senses

In a chilly basement room at Carnegie Mellon University sits a giant dome that looks like part physics experiment, part that chamber Darth Vader kicks back in. But this space wasn't built for subatomic particles, and it wasn't built for space villains. It was built for the betterment of robots. This is the so-called Panoptic Studio. The wires and electronics are actually an elaborate system of 500 cameras, both 2-D and 3-D, that capture groups of people inside the dome--none of those silly ball-covered suits required.