RESOURCES_Tools and Toys

time. This is not a statement I make lightly,

the Future of Augmented because my position at Lucidscape Tech-
Reality: Hololens nologies, a research lab specializing in vir-
tual and augmented reality, affords me the
Microsoft’s AR headset shines opportunity to experience a wide range of re-
despite rough edges lated technology on a daily basis.
Once initial setup and calibration are com-
plete, the HoloLens experience starts with a
hand gesture that invokes the holograph-
ic equivalent of the Windows start menu.
The pointer is controlled by your gaze, and
clicking is done with a finger gesture. Most
items can be dragged through space using
a pinching gesture. You enter text by using a
gaze-activated keyboard. The gesture rec-
ognition is very reliable, although the number
of actions appears to be fixed—meaning, at
least for now, that developers will not be able
to define custom gestures.
Present is also Cortana, Windows’ voice-
activated personal assistant. In theory, most
hand gestures and keyboard input can be re-
placed with voice commands. However, I have
given up using Cortana due to its unreliability.
his morning I found myself Powering each HoloLens is a 32-bit I­ ntel While not perfect, the HoloLens’s ability to
T looking all over my apartment for Atom processor and Microsoft’s custom anchor apps and holograms in the real world is
an impressive technological feat. If you place
an interesting news article I wasn’t Holographic Processing Unit, or HPU. Us-
able to finish yesterday. The search eventually ing data generated by an inertial measure- a hologram on top of a desk, it will stay where
took me to the living room, which was littered ment unit, four spatial-mapping cameras, you put it as you walk around the room. The
with 3-D models. Thankfully, it took me only and a depth camera, the HPU creates a 3-D HoloLens also builds a catalog of the different
a couple of hand gestures to tidy up. Then I model of the surrounding environment. Apps rooms it maps. This means you can return to
found the article I was looking for, floating in can then use this model to position holo- a room after several days away and you’ll find
midair just behind the spot where a life-size grams without wasting the limited process- your holograms and apps where you left them.
model of an astronaut had been only mo- ing capacity of the energy-efficient Atom There are currently only a handful of made-
ments before. processor on handling sensor data. (As a for-HoloLens apps of varying utility. Skype for
That narrative sounds like something out Windows 10 device, HoloLens can run most HoloLens allows the person on the other end
of a Harry Potter book. But it encapsulates 32-bit-processor-compatible Windows Uni- of the conversation to draw lines that appear
the essence of how Microsoft’s HoloLens versal Platform apps, which are available at as holograms in your field of view. HoloStudio
augmented-reality glasses provide a new the Windows Store. Nonholographic applica- is a fun-to-use, albeit limited 3-D editor with
kind of experience. tions run as floating virtual screens that you support for 3-D printing. There are three
More polished than a prototype but still far place in your environment.) games you can adapt to your real-world en-
from being a consumer product, Microsoft’s By opting for such a specialized coproces- vironment, which gives you a taste of how fu-
new vision for interacting with computers is sor, Microsoft has traded some flexibility for ture holographic titles might turn your living
now finally finding its way into the hands of increased power and thermal efficiency. Still, room into a video-game level.
people outside the company. Available as the the HoloLens would not be feasible without The bottom line is that despite the high
US $3,000 Development Edition, the HoloLens it. That is because the form factor of a head- cost and shortcomings of the Development
headset, at just 580 grams, is a self-contained mounted computer puts serious constraints Edition, it is clear that future iterations of the
wearable Windows 10 computer. It’s able to on battery size and how much heat can be HoloLens could profoundly change how we
map the wearer’s environment while displaying dissipated without causing discomfort. relate to our computers and even to our envi-
virtual objects anchored to that environment. Despite these limitations, Microsoft’s ef- ronment. Wearing a HoloLens feels like hav-
Microsoft

The result is the best mixed-reality experience forts amount to the most impressive device ing a glimpse of an unfinished future.
to date by a stand-alone, untethered device. I have had a chance to work with in a long —Rod Furlan

SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG | North American | JUN 2016 |  21

06.Resources.NA.indd 21 5/11/16 3:57 PM