The fulldome community is always keen to hear of new technologies that could be used for the dome. So I naturally think about all the possible fulldome uses when hearing about a throwable camera ball – Squito - that has onboard orientation sensors to capture and process images over the course of its airborne trajectory. Throwable camera innovations are accelerating with advancements in sensor and imaging microelectronics,” stated Hollinger. “And with the advent of low-cost, high-speed cameras for outdoor recreation, an affordable throwable camera is finally within reach. Hollinger’s patent describes a ball-shaped camera with position and orientation sensors determining the relationship between a spiraling or spinning aperture and a subject of image capture. Such a relationship allows, for example, images to be captured, re-oriented and stitched into a panorama. The technology further allows for the stabilization of video, making a camera capable of registering frames captured in sequence. Images and video are transmitted wirelessly to the user’s phone, tablet or desktop. It could be very interesting to see what fulldome producers do with a tool like this. While the results are immediately usable for still frames, the tracking software needs some smoothing out before its video output is ready for the dome. But instant 360° captures of an environment is quite tempting! Below is a video showcasing the technology in a prototype form. I'm curious to see more! Image courtesy of Serveball