Blending Realities
Imagine designing an object, in 3D and color, using only gaze, gestures, and voice (GGV) commands. Imagine designing an entire building the same way—or modifying an existing one. Imagine moving in a physical space and overlaying tags, menus, applications, and virtual reality objects on the physical objects around you. Imagine studying the surface of Mars by immersing yourself in a 360-degree, 3D image of it, created from imagery taken both above the surface and on it.
All this is now possible with HoloLens, a wearable holographic computer with see-through, high-definition lenses that Microsoft is preparing to release. It incorporates a CPU, a GPU, a new processor that Microsoft calls a holographic processing unit (HPU), spatial sound, and sensors that map the physical environment. The uses of this new device are endless.
HoloLens blends physical reality with AR and VR to create MR. What does this mean? Physical reality (say, an air conditioner) blends with augmented reality (AR, when the filter was last changed in that unit) and virtual reality (VR, a bracket you designed to attach that unit to a particular window), creating what Microsoft calls mixed reality (MR).