With four pods already built and database scans growing at approximately 70% per month, Estonia’s Wolfprint 3D wants to commercialize body scanning. Backed by $500K in crowd funding seed money, Wolfprint hopes its egg-shaped 3D scanning pod called Luna penetrates the virtual reality/augmented reality market that is estimated to reach $120 billion by 2020.

“We believe that in order to make virtual reality truly social, every person needs a unique 3D avatar, and the only way to create a realistic life-like avatar is using 3D scanning.”

Making the AR/VR Experience Authentic

With the recent uptick in VR/AR consumer technology devices, such as Sony SmartEyeglass (AR) or the Microsoft HoloLens (VR), Wolfprint’s plan to build a global network of scanning booths seems timely – to say the least. In a recent interview with 3D Printing Industry, company co-founder and CEO Timmu Tõke talked about VR and its flaws: “Your friend is a random generic avatar,” Tõke said. “This means that current VR experiences are anything but authentic.”

Affordable 3D Scanning

Wolfprint’s vending machine approach to 3D body scanning is estimated to bring in $50,000 in annual revenue. With each Luna pod costing approximately $8,000 to make, Wolfprint hopes to make 3D scanning affordable. Rainer Selvert, CTO and co-founder, says in a recent interview with 3D Printing, “currently, 3D scanning is expensive, it can cost more than $400 to make a high-quality scan.” Add in the costs associated with refining images post-scan, and you end up isolated a huge portion of consumers.

A Mission to “Bring Humanity Into VR”

Wolfprint, with already 5,000 scans under their belt, values their company at $4.5 million. With a mission to “bring humanity into VR,” Wolfprint plans on bringing its Luna 3D scanning pods to malls and airports across the United States. Whether it’s the HTC Vive VR headset or Atheer AiR Glasses (AR), there seems to be a need for creating a 3D representation of everyone.

As we all know, the VR/AR experience relies heavily on fully immersive technology. As Tõke so eloquently mentioned in his interview with 3D Printing Industry, VR/AR is missing authenticity. A vending machine that can create a personalized 3D avatar will certainly change the VR/AR experience, as we know it.