Microsoft HoloLens: 10 Ways It Has Evolved
It has been more than one year since Microsoft announced its foray into augmented reality with HoloLens. Here's a look at how its strategy has changed over time.
In January 2015, Microsoft surprised a room full of people at its Windows 10 launch event when it unveiled HoloLens. This marked the start of Redmond's foray into augmented reality technology.
The augmented reality headset lets users view and interact with digital images overlaid on real-world objects. Its applications range from productivity and workplace collaboration to gaming and entertainment.
HoloLens runs a version of Windows 10 designed to enable mixed-reality experiences. This edition contains perception APIs and a holographic shell and interaction model so wearers can interact with holograms using voice, gaze, and touch communication.
Microsoft isn't the only major tech company experimenting with mixed-reality technology.
[Read: 9 Ways VR Video Gaming Is Getting Very Real]
Google is planning to build a VR device that, like HoloLens, won't require a PC, smartphone, or console. Apple recently added to its staff of VR and AR specialists by hiring Doug Bowman, who formerly researched interactive computing at the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech.
This past week, Microsoft announced plans to open its Windows Holographic operating system to outside vendors building mixed-reality devices. It says it hopes by giving manufacturers and designers access to the OS, it can enable customers to eventually communicate across platforms.
While we may not see the results of this announcement for a while, Microsoft's intentions mark a big step forward for its mixed-reality strategy. Here we take a look at how HoloLens and Redmond's approach to augmented reality have evolved since January 2015.
How do you think the future of mixed reality will unfold? Do you think Microsoft has potential to become a market leader in this space? How do you think a device like HoloLens would change the way you live and work? We'd like to learn your thoughts in the comments.
(All images: Microsoft)
It seems so long ago we first learned about Microsoft HoloLens during an official Windows 10 launch held at the company's Redmond headquarters in January 2015. Alex Kipman, technical fellow for new device categories in Microsoft's Operating System Group, took the audience by surprise when he demoed the futuristic project that seemed closer to science fiction than reality.
Kipman explained how wearers would be able to use the untethered, head-mounted computer to view and interact with holograms overlaid on real-world objects. The headset contains sensors to capture details of the environment as well as an advanced CPU, GPU, and HPU (holographic processing unit). The HPU recognizes voice and movements, and displays holograms on surrounding objects.
We also learned all Windows 10 Universal Apps could be built to work as holograms, expanding the potential for developers to take advantage of this new technology.
At its Build 2015 conference, Microsoft shed some light on the technology inside its augmented reality headgear and the ways it had changed in the months since its January debut.
Execs demoed a way that HoloLens could be used as a desktop computer. Users would be able to stick their desktop and various apps on the walls and objects surrounding them. The headset has also been updated to include a Spatial Sound system, which would enable users to hear holograms located behind them. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) and head-tracking cameras recognize how the wearer's head is moving, while the HPU picks up gestures and visuals to understand the surrounding environment.
In August 2015, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella promised developers and business users they would be able to get their hands on HoloLens within the coming year. Notably, he did not mention the development of a personal version of HoloLens. Instead, he emphasized the wearable's potential for the enterprise.
"Microsoft HoloLens will be a revolutionary tool for businesses -- transforming how companies, designers, and creators work with three-dimensional data to bring products and information to life," the company said. Given the prototypes that had been shown, it was assumed the HoloLens would have a steep price and consequently be more suitable for business users.
For the enterprise, much of the power of HoloLens lies in its ability to transform the way we communicate. Consider, for example, conference calls: group audio calls have changed little and continue to be riddled with beeps, lost connections, and people talking while they should be on mute. HoloLens has the potential to make conference calls not only more efficient, but even enjoyable.
With holographic technology, workers can choose to work from their preferred virtual locations depending on the environment that best suits them. Some people work better with visual stimuli, while others work better in traditional conference rooms.
A few months after the HoloLens debut, Microsoft began collaborating with businesses to introduce new user experiences with its AR technology. In November 2015, the company announced it had been working for 6 months with Volvo, which says it hopes to use HoloLens to change the way people buy cars.
Volvo aims to bring mixed reality into a HoloLens-equipped showroom so that customers can do things like kick the tires, virtually, and customize their own base vehicle. With HoloLens, Volvo could potentially show customers vehicles that have not yet been manufactured.
The ability to virtually guide customers through vehicles could also reduce the number of cars needed on dealers' lots. HoloLens would also give car dealers the option to leave their traditional work environments to sell cars in pop-up stores or shopping malls.
Toward the end of 2015, Microsoft decided it was time to ask users about the apps they would want to use with HoloLens. The company launched "Share Your Idea," a contest calling for people to submit their ideas for HoloLens apps. Participants were encouraged to make full use of the capabilities of holograms -- for example, the abilities to shrink or grow, emit sound, and interact with voice and gesture commands.
The prize? A winning idea would be built as a HoloLens app by Microsoft's developers, designers, and artists.
Months later, we learned about Galaxy Explorer, which was chosen as the top idea. The app enables users to navigate the galaxy using both gestures and voice commands. Tapping an object reveals facts and statistics. Drawing a line from one area to another will reveal the time it would take to travel that distance. Landing on a planet transforms the wearer's surrounding environment to give him or her a sense of what it would be like to exist there.
Microsoft and NASA took a slightly more realistic approach to Galaxy Explorer when they teamed up to bring HoloLens into space. HoloLens arrived on the International Space Station in December 2015 to undergo testing with astronauts Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko. Kelly, who had the chance to try HoloLens prior to its space debut, highlighted two ways in which the AR headset would be useful in outer space.
First, HoloLens could be used to interact with equipment and navigate lists of procedures, a process typically done on a computer or iPad. The headset could also be used to share activity with people back on Earth. If he was using an unfamiliar piece of equipment, for example, Kelly could communicate with ground-based experts. They could be able to point to pieces and make annotations to lead him through an experiment.
Earlier this year, the HoloLens Development Edition was made available for preorder. At last, Microsoft was ready to broaden the ecosystem for its new technology.
This edition of HoloLens gave developers access to documentation, a developer community, and additional tools like Visual Studio projects. After the developer edition began shipping, Microsoft planned to release its HoloLens emulator so holographic apps could be tested on PCs without requiring the use of a HoloLens headset.
With this announcement, enthusiastic developers could get their hands on HoloLens, but the privilege to work with Microsoft's AR headset came at a price. The cost of the development kit was $3,000.
One month after preorders were announced, Microsoft began shipping the HoloLens Development Edition. Around the same time, it also released the HoloLens emulator. Both rollouts coincided with the start of Build 2016, a strategic move on Redmond's part.
Microsoft clearly wants to capture the augmented reality market. To do so, it needs to appeal to third-party developers to build apps and create an ecosystem for HoloLens. This year's Build conference brought several announcements to encourage coders.
Microsoft's Kipman touted the HoloLens technology: an x86 chip, Microsoft HPU, 64GB Flash, 2GB RAM, spatial sound, and gaze tracking. To inspire developers, Microsoft also announced it would be releasing the Galaxy Explorer app for HoloLens on open source website GitHub.
Microsoft recently announced plans to open its Windows Holographic operating system to OEM, ODM, and hardware partners. Prior to this update, the platform was limited to the HoloLens headset.
The idea behind this move is that manufacturers and designers will be able to create mixed-reality devices, PCs, displays, and accessories using Microsoft's platform. Windows Holographic will be compatible with devices that rely on all types of mixed-reality technologies, from untethered holographic computing to immersive virtual reality.
Microsoft wants to enable a scenario in which people will be able to communicate across platforms using mixed-reality devices. Many of today's devices don't work with one another to provide different content, UIs, input methods, peripherals, and interaction models. HoloLens is currently the only AR device with built-in computing power, and Microsoft wants to broaden the capabilities currently available in its own headset.
With this announcement, Microsoft says it believes it will create new business opportunities for manufacturers. Developers can now start writing Windows Holographic apps, which Microsoft promises will be able to run on a broad range of devices in the future.
Microsoft aims to transform the future of unified communications (UC) with the development of holoportation. This 3D capture technology, it claims, would enable models of humans to be remodeled, compressed, and transported anywhere in real-time.
Holoportation would leverage the mixed-reality technology behind HoloLens to enable people to see and interact with remote users as if they were face-to-face. The idea is to make remote communication as easy and natural as in-person interactions.
The project is being developed under the Interactive 3D Technologies group under Microsoft Research. It will combine the group's research on machine learning, 3D graphics, computer vision, augmented reality, novel hardware, and natural user interface (NUI) technology. The team had to develop new motion-capture cameras to provide a high-quality 3D model of communicators.
Microsoft aims to transform the future of unified communications (UC) with the development of holoportation. This 3D capture technology, it claims, would enable models of humans to be remodeled, compressed, and transported anywhere in real-time.
Holoportation would leverage the mixed-reality technology behind HoloLens to enable people to see and interact with remote users as if they were face-to-face. The idea is to make remote communication as easy and natural as in-person interactions.
The project is being developed under the Interactive 3D Technologies group under Microsoft Research. It will combine the group's research on machine learning, 3D graphics, computer vision, augmented reality, novel hardware, and natural user interface (NUI) technology. The team had to develop new motion-capture cameras to provide a high-quality 3D model of communicators.
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