Microsoft Hololens

Microsoft Hololens
Microsoft HoloLens is the first fully untethered, holographic computer, enabling you to interact with high‑definition holograms in your world.
Microsoft's HoloLens, which the company unveiled at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters on Wednesday, is a sleek, flashy headset with transparent lenses. You can see the world around you, but suddenly that world is transformed -- with 3D objects floating in midair, virtual screens on the wall and your living room covered in virtual characters running amok.

In "Minority Report," for instance, Tom Cruise's character used sweeping, midair hand gestures and transparent screens to do police work. Five years later, Apple unveiled the iPhone, and with it, a touchscreen operated by hand and finger gestures. Microsoft in turn served up its Kinect gesture-control device, which tracks people's movements through space and feeds the data into an interface.

What's a HoloLens, and how does it work?

Microsoft's HoloLens is not actually producing 3D images that everyone can see; this isn't "Star Trek."

Instead of everyone walking into a room made to reproduce 3D images, Microsoft's goggles show images only the wearer can see. Everyone else will just think you're wearing goofy-looking glasses.

Another key thing about HoloLens is what Microsoft is trying to accomplish.

The company is not trying to transport you to a different world, but rather bring the wonders of a computer directly to the one you're living in. Microsoft is overlaying images and objects onto our living rooms.

As a HoloLens wearer, you'll still see the real world in front of you. You can walk around and talk to others without worrying about bumping into walls.

The goggles will track your movements, watch your gaze and transform what you see by blasting light at your eyes (it doesn't hurt). Because the device tracks where you are, you can use hand gestures -- right now it's only a midair click by raising and lowering your finger -- to interact with the 3D images.

There's a whole bunch of other hardware that's designed to help the HoloLens' effects feel believable. The device has a plethora of sensors to sense your movements in a room and it uses this information along with layers of colored glass to create images you can interact with or investigate from different angles. Want to see the back of a virtual bike in the middle of your kitchen? Just walk to the other side of it.

The goggles also have a camera that looks at the room, so the HoloLens knows where tables, chairs and other objects are. It then uses that information to project 3D images on top of and even inside them -- place virtual dynamite on your desk and you might blow a hole to see what's inside.

Display and Sound

The smartglass head-mounted display requires neither cords nor phones. It features a HD 3D optical head-mounted display, spatial sound system along with various sensors. The eye-piece consist of a tinted visor with a pair of combiner lenses within. 2 small speakers are located on the sides of OHMD. Unlike headphones, these speakers do not prevent the user from hearing external sound.

Sensors

Sensors include head tracking IMUs, sound capture system consist of various microphones, an energy efficient depth camera with 120°×120° FOV and a RGB video camera.

Processors

For processors, in addition to CPU and GPU, HoloLens will possess an HPU, holographic processing unit. HPU is a coprocessor that is dedicated to integrating real world and virtually generated content. It consolidates and processes all the data from various sensors and produces a thin stream of useful information to the other processors. HPU removes the burden of handling heavy external data from the CPU and GPU, allowing them to focus on creating content.

Power and Connectivity

Battery in HoloLens lasts around 2.5 hours during processor intensive use. It lasts around 5.5 hours during regular use.

HoloLens can connect to any any WiFi or Bluetooth-equipped device.

HoloLens can run any universal Windows 10 app.