Microsoft HoloLens opens up a world of possibilities

Microsoft’s augmented reality glasses show plenty of promise.

A hologram of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin appeared in front of me. His arms were outstretched and he was talking about humankind living on Mars. It’s something I won’t forget.

Aldrin came courtesy of Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality glasses. Microsoft wants to put a whole new spin on how we see this world, and other worlds.

I’ve not only tried the latest version of HoloLens. I’ve also had a chance to see how holograms are built, moved and organised, an indicator of where the technology is heading. It shows amazing promise.

Microsoft and Intel have invested heavily in augmented reality (AR) which, unlike virtual reality (VR), doesn’t completely reconstruct the world around you. Instead, AR superimposes digital information into real life. In VR you’re transported in time and space. In AR, you see the world around you plus holograms.

A student studies a hologram image with Microsoft HoloLens. Photo: Saab

Put on HoloLens and in future the parts of your car engine could be neatly labelled with virtual text the next time you go under the bonnet. It will no longer be hard to find the alternator.

At home you might download holograms of furniture, wallpaper designs, paint colours and floor coverings and superimpose them over your actual loungeroom to see what works. And in industry, you might learn how to assemble machinery by first assembling a hologram representation rather than the real thing.

The HoloLens Development Edition is a markedly different proposition from the virtual reality headsets in the market.

Supported by an adjustable ring with the front edge at the top of your forehead and the back near the base of your skull, it doesn’t press against your face like a diving mask. The glasses section pivots to this ring at each temple and moves independently.

Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition, showing the separate attachment and glasses arms.

You can slide the glasses up and down, forward and back and position them over your eyes without them pressing against your face. You can also wear spectacles underneath HoloLens. This might be necessary if you are short sighted but possibly unnecessary if you use reading glasses, as I discovered.

However it did take me time to fit and feel totally comfortable wearing HoloLens the first time.

Soon you might watch Les Miserables on your home theatre with, say, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe holograms sitting on your couch commenting on the film. You might see holograms of giant spiders and salivating man-eating cockroaches storming down the hallway towards you.

But with HoloLens, only a smallish rectangular region ahead of you displays the holograms. I sometimes had to back away to fit all of a hologram in view. Sources told me this area was likely to get larger in time. It needs to.

Technology journalist Chris Griffith tries Microsoft HoloLens.

The revelation I had with Holo­Lens was while trying out software that lets you prepare holograms for HoloLens use. This involved using the games development package Unity and Microsoft Visual Studio. Using various scripts, I not only placed holograms in your field of view, but also enabled options in Unity that lets you move them to other locations, and collaborate with others to control them.

Not surprisingly, it’s easier for the brain to digest 3D representations of the 3D world. Last week Microsoft highlighted the example of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, which was teaching students anatomy with HoloLens. The dean of its school of medicine, Pamela Davis, said students could more easily visualise the effect of a tumour on brain functions through a hologram of a cross section.

In sport, we might sit at home watching little holograms of marathon runners and Tour de France cyclists fight it out. They’d be shown as small objects moving around a 3D panorama.
It’s not unrealistic that one day, holograms of sporting contests could be streamed over the net so that thousands wearing AR headsets could share the experience. It would probably eat up less bandwidth than streaming immersive 360 degree virtual reality.

A hologram seen through Microsoft HoloLens

Microsoft is starting to roll out the HoloLens Development Edition to the developer community so it can build applications. Developers pay $3,000 for a HoloLens kit. That cost will have to dramatically fall when the device is mass produced if the public is to feel inspired to buy one.

The good news is that Australia is at the forefront of building applications. In South Australia, the business unit of Swedish aerospace and defence service company Saab has been developing HoloLens applications by testing them with an emulator.

It has established a HoloLens application studio with assistance from Microsoft and the SA government.

Saab’s head of training and simulation (ANZ) Inger Lawes told The Australian the first application would be ready late this year. He said HoloLens was the perfect device for supporting training in hazardous environments.

For example, you could teach someone the intricacies of disarming an unexploded bomb in a completely safe way using holograms. Trainees could use their hands and equipment to dissemble a virtual bomb, as they would the real thing.

Saab also plans to build a series of applications for distance learning and education and, along with applications that will support the civil and defence sectors. “We see Hololens as a revolutionary technology breakthrough that will enable training education to be delivered in ways that were not possible until now,” Mr Lawes said.

Holding a hologram image of the Sun.

Microsoft meanwhile has flagged interesting options for Skype and augmented reality. Put on a Holo­Lens and the person you are Skyping might appear as a hologram beside you. The Skype conversation might open as a video stream playing inside the hologram world.

It is clear augmented reality has a huge future, and that Holo­Lens has tools available for developers to start building now. But as a consumer device, HoloLens is some time off. Developers will have to get their applications up to speed and that $US3000 ($3900) cost will have to drop.

Nevertheless, we’re nearing an age where a landscape of holograms will show a miniaturised version of the world around us. Headsets like HoloLens will help us manage it.

Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition.