Introduction:
Ever since the invention of the Google Glass, augmented reality has become an increasingly popular field. However, after Google suspended its plans to market Glass, the future of the technology seemed bleak. Now, fans of the idea of augmented reality can once again raise their hopes, for Microsoft has released its own version of Google Glass, called the HoloLens.
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Overview:
In its basic form, the HoloLens is a pair of glasses with lenses capable of displaying three-dimensional holographic images. Rather than placing the wearer into a realm of virtual reality, the HoloLens uses augmented reality to place images into the realm of the user. The glasses track the movements of the user and allow for personal interactions with the environment.
Uses:
Though the HoloLens is a relatively new technology, its uses are already staggering. To name only a few, the device can reshape the fields of gaming, education, and workplace design.
- Gaming: As Microsoft showed in their demonstration of the HoloLens earlier this year, the device can greatly impact the gaming industry. The glasses can not only display games to the user in three dimensions, but they can also merge reality and the gaming world by using aspects of the wearer’s environment as part of the game environment. Shown using Minecraft in the demonstration, users can project the gaming world into their own home without the need for any consoles, controllers, or even a power socket.
- Education: For both teaching and learning, the HoloLens can have unbelievable impacts on education. For students, the HoloLens can become a personal textbook, showing relevant information to the wearer in real-time—saving students the time of flipping through pages. It can give students three-dimensional examples of objects being studied—such as an engine or the human body—and allow the student to become more involved in the learning process through personal interaction. For teachers, the HoloLens allows for the use of holographic instruction, letting teachers see through the eyes of the student and “project” feedback directly into the student’s field of view.
- Workplace Design: From graphic design to engineering, the HoloLens would revolutionize the design process in the workplace. As shown again through Microsoft’s demonstration, the HoloLens allows users to create, scale, and move objects within their environment simply with the movement of a hand or the flick of a finger. With Microsoft’s new HoloStudio, designers could essentially create three-dimensional models of their ideas at any time without the need for materials and regardless of the scope of their overall plan. This would not only allow the designer to see his or her idea as a reality before manufacturing even begins, but it would also make spotting design flaws and conveying the final design idea to others faster and easier.
Human Computer Interaction (HCI) :
Today’s primary focus in HCI is the Natural User Interface (NUI). This branch of HCI focuses on intuitive user interaction without the use of external devices, making the experience feel—as the name suggests—natural. To me, Microsoft’s HoloLens perfectly embodies such an interface. With only a pair of glasses and their hands, wearers can shape and create the world around them. Users can essentially see as a computer would see, projecting virtual data and images into the real world. This incredible advancement finally eliminates the gap between the computer processor and the human brain, maximizing the efficiency of both and making the line between the two ways of “thinking” virtually indistinguishable. As technology like the HoloLens continues to redefine the realm of augmented reality in the future, we may even see the need for a redefinition of the field from that of Human Computer Interaction to Human Computer Cooperation.
To the Readers:
What about you? What do you think of the HoloLens or about the transition to augmented reality? Can you think of some other uses for the HoloLens as the technology continues to progress?
Please feel free to leave a comment, and learn more about the HoloLens with the videos and links below!
Sources and Additional Links:
Microsoft‘s HoloLens Live Demonstration:
IGN HoloLens Review:
Human Computer Interaction and Natural User Interface:
Microsoft HoloLens Website: