Microsoft HoloLens

Microsoft HoloLens

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The HoloLens Development Edition
Also known as	Project Baraboo (in-development)
Developer	Microsoft
Manufacturer	Microsoft
Product family	Windows 10
Type	Mixed reality optical head-mounted display smartglasses
Release date	March 30, 2016 (2016-03-30) (Development Edition) *TBA (Consumer version)
Introductory price	$3000
Operating system	Windows Holographic
CPU	Intel 32-bit (2GB)
Memory	2GB RAM *1GB HPU RAM
Storage	64GB (flash memory)
Display	2.3 megapixel widescreen stereoscopic head-mounted display
Sound	Spatial sound technology
Input	Inertial measurement unit (Accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer) 4 sensors 1 120°×120° depth camera
Controller input	Gestural commands via sensors and HPU
Camera	2.4 MP
Touchpad	None.
Connectivity	IEEE 802.11ac Bluetooth 4.1 LE
Platform	Android, iOS, OS X, Windows 10
Weight	579 g
Website	Official website

Microsoft HoloLens, known under development as Project Baraboo, is a pair of mixed reality head-mounted smartglasses developed and manufactured by Microsoft Corporation. HoloLens gained popularity for being one of the first computers running the Windows Holographic platform under the Windows 10 operating system. It was introduced with operating systems, such as Android, iOS and OS X on April 5, 2015.

The HoloLens can trace its lineage to Kinect, an add-on for Microsoft's Xbox gaming console that was introduced in 2010.

The pre-production version of HoloLens, the Development Edition, shipped on 30 March 2016, and is targeted to developers in the United States and Canada for a list price of $3,000. Samsung and Asus have extended an offer to Microsoft to help produce their own mixed-reality products, in collaboration with Microsoft, based around the concept and hardware on HoloLens.

On February 2016, Alex Kipman, the chief inventor of the HoloLens, announced that Microsoft has delayed the launch of the consumer version.

Design

The HoloLens is a head-mounted display unit connected to an adjustable, cushioned inner headband, which can tilt HoloLens up and down, as well as forward and backward. To wear the unit, the user fits the HoloLens on their head, using an adjustment wheel at the back of the headband to secure it around the crown, supporting and distributing the weight of the unit equally for comfort, before tilting the visor towards the front of the eyes.

In the front is much of the sensors and related hardware, including the cameras and processors. The visor is tinted; enclosed in the visor piece is a pair of transparent combiner lenses, in which the projected images are displayed in the lower half. The HoloLens must be calibrated to the interpupillary distance (IPD), or accustomed vision of the user.

Along the bottom edges of the side, located near the user's ears, are a pair of small, red 3D audio speakers. The speakers, competing against typical sound systems, do not obstruct external sounds, allowing the user to hear virtual sounds, along with the environment. Using head-related transfer functions, the HoloLens generates binaural audio, which can simulate spatial effects; meaning the user, virtually, can perceive and locate a sound, as though it is coming from a virtual pinpoint or location.

On the top edge are two pairs of buttons: display brightness buttons above the left ear, and volume buttons above the right ear. Adjacent buttons are shaped differently—one concave, one convex—so that the user can distinguish them by touch.

At the end of the left arm is a power button and row of five, small individual LED nodes, used to indicate system status, as well as for power management, indicating battery level and setting power/standby mode. A USB 2.0 micro-B receptacle is located along the bottom edge. A 3.5 mm audio jack is located along the bottom edge of the right arm.

Hardware

The HoloLens features an inertial measurement unit (IMU), which includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, and a magnetometer, four "environment understanding" sensors, an energy-efficient depth camera with a 120°×120° angle of view, a 2.4-megapixel photographic video camera, a four-microphone array, and an ambient light sensor.

In addition to a CPU and GPU, HoloLens features a custom-made Microsoft Holographic Processing Unit (HPU), a coprocessor manufactured specifically for the HoloLens by Microsoft. The main purpose of the HPU is processesing and integrating data from the sensors, as well as handling tasks such as spatial mapping, gesture recognition, and voice and speech recognition. According to Alex Kipman, the HPU processes "terabytes of information" from the HoloLens's sensors from real-time data. (See also Vision Processing Unit).

The lenses of the HoloLens use optical waveguides to color blue, green, and red across three different layers—each with diffractive features. A "light engine" above each combiner lens projects light into the lens, a wavelength which then hits a diffractive element and is reflected repeatedly along a layer until it is output to the eye. Similar to that of many other optical head-mounted displays, the display projection for the HoloLens occupies a limited portion of the user's field of view (FOV), particularly in comparison to virtual reality head-mounted displays, which typically cover a much greater field of view. Based on preliminary hardware, most observers have characterized the field of view of the HoloLens as small, though subjective estimates vary significantly. From the Build 2015 developer conference in May, one attendee estimated that the display field of view of the demonstration units was 30°×17.5°. In an interview at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, Microsoft Vice-President of Next-Gen Experiences, Kudo Tsunoda, indicated that the field of view is unlikely to be significantly different on release of the consumer version.

The HoloLens contains an internal rechargeable battery, with average life rated at 2–3 hours of active use, or 2 weeks of standby time. The HoloLens can be operated while charging.

HoloLens features IEEE 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 Low Energy (LE) wireless connectivity. The headset uses Bluetooth LE to pair with the included Clicker, a thumb-sized finger-operating input device that can be used for interface scrolling and selecting. The Clicker features a clickable surface for selecting, and an orientation sensor which provides for scrolling functions via tilting and panning of the unit. The Clicker features an elastic finger loop for holding the device, and a USB 2.0 micro-B receptacle for charging its internal battery.

Applications

As of 2016, a number of augmented-reality applications have been announced or showcased for Microsoft HoloLens. A collection of applications will be provided for free for developers purchasing the Microsoft HoloLens Developer Edition. Applications available at launch include:

• HoloStudio, a full-scale 3D modelling application by Microsoft with 3D print compatibility
• An implementation of the Skype telecommunications application by Microsoft
• HoloTour, an audiovisual three-dimensional virtual tourism application
• Fragments, a high-tech crime thriller adventure game developed by Microsoft and Asobo Studio, in which the player engages in crime-solving
• Young Conker, a platform game developed by Microsoft and Asobo Studio, featuring a young version of Conker the Squirrel
• RoboRaid (previously code-named "Project X-Ray"), an augmented-reality first-person shooter game by Microsoft in which the player defends against a robot invasion, aiming the weapon via gaze, and shooting via the Clicker button or an air tap

Actiongram, an application for staging and recording short video clips of simple mixed-reality presentations using pre-made 3D virtual assets, will be released in summer 2016 in the United States and Canada.

Artist's imagining of Minecraft on HoloLens

Other applications announced or showcased for HoloLens include:

• “Holographic Workstation”TM for Citi Traders, a mixed reality evolution of the trading floor workstation
• An interactive digital human anatomy curriculum by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic
• Architectural engineering software tools by Trimble Navigation
• An augmented-reality first-person shooter game by Microsoft code-named "Project X-Ray"
• A version of the Mojang video game Minecraft
• Extended functionality for the Autodesk Maya 3D creation application
• OnSight and Sidekick, software projects developed by a collaboration between NASA and Microsoft to explore mixed reality applications in space exploration
• FreeForm, a joint project between Autodesk and Microsoft integrating HoloLens with the Autodesk Fusion 360 cloud-based 3D development application
• Galaxy Explorer, an educational application about the Milky Way in development by Microsoft Studios, pitched and chosen by the developer community via the Share Your Idea campaign, and to be open-sourced upon completion
• A spacecraft design/visualization application in development by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Developed in collaboration with JPL, OnSight integrates data from the Curiosity rover into a 3D simulation of the Martian environment, which scientists around the world can visualize, interact with, and collaborate in together using HoloLens devices. OnSight can be used in mission planning, with users able to program rover activities by looking at a target within the simulation, and using gestures to pull up and select menu commands. JPL plans to deploy OnSight in Curiosity mission operations, using it to control rover activities by July 2015.

Interface

HoloLens, through the use of the HPU, uses sensual and natural interface commands—gaze, gesture, and voice—sometimes referred to as "GGV", inputs. Gaze commands, such as head-tracking, allows the user to bring application focus to whatever the user is perceiving. "Elements"—or any virtual application or button—are selected using an air tap method, similar to clicking an imaginary computer mouse. The tap can be held for a drag simulation to move an element, as well as voice commands for certain commands and actions.

The HoloLens shell carries over and adapts many elements from the Windows desktop environment. A "bloom" gesture for accessing the shell (performing a similar function to pressing a Windows key on a Windows keyboard or tablet, or the Xbox button on an Xbox One Controller) is performed by opening one's hand, fingers spread with the palm facing up. Windows can be dragged to a particular position, as well as resized. Virtual elements such as windows or menus can be "pinned" to locations, physical structures or objects within the environment; or can be "carried," or fixed in relation to the user, following the user as they move around. Title bars for application windows have a title on the left, and buttons for window management functions on the right.

External links

• Official site