Exact implementation of SIFT can't run in real time even with modern PC. But there is a implementations on GPU http://cs.unc.edu/~ccwu/siftgpu/. The faster alternative is SURF, but still not real time.
What is SIFT?
: to separate or separate out by or as if by putting through a sieve. : to go through especially to sort out what is useful or valuable. sift evidence. sift through a pile of papers. sifter noun.
What is sift application?
SIFT helps locate the local features in an image, commonly known as the 'keypoints' of the image. These keypoints are scale & rotation invariant that can be used for various computer vision applications, like image matching, object detection, scene detection, etc.