Nick Mediati, PC World, Aug 11, 2010 10:18 am

The back-to-school season is upon us, and what better way to go back to school in style than with a laser-equipped backpack capable of building 3D maps of building interiors?

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed just that. Their backpack uses a combination of lasers, cameras, and location-sensing equipment to map out rooms and corridors inside buildings, according to aKGO-TV news report. (video at http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7599241 )

Needless to say, the 3D mapping backpack isn’t exactly practical for students–you can’t store stuff in it and you’d probably get plenty of funny looks–the researchers say that the backpack can be used for mapping for games, or for gathering data to help make buildings more energy efficient. See the video below for more.

Needless to say, the 3D mapping backpack isn’t exactly practical for students–you can’t store stuff in it and you’d probably get plenty of funny looks–the researchers say that the backpack can be used for mapping for games, or for gathering data to help make buildings more energy efficient.

Pretty cool, huh? What other uses to do you see for this sort of thing? Sound off in the comments below.