Microsoft has announced its own virtual reality headset at the Unite Boston 2015 conference. Pete Moss, the lead engineer at Unity Technologies, took the HoloLens to the stage to demonstrate some of its gaming capabilities. HoloLens is the exciting and interesting take of Microsoft on virtual reality system.
Microsoft HoloLens is one of the first virtual reality devices to combine with its virtual counterpart, producing an augmented reality (AR). An augmented reality is the layering of computer-generated images on top of the real world. It has some interesting attributes and is useful for development.
As previously demonstrated by Pete Moss, he showed that when the game level is in locked position, the user can walk away from the game, look back, and see the level floating in space at the same point above the monitor where it was before. He also confirmed that "The beauty of the HoloLens is that I can wear the device and work on the computer at the same time."
The HoloLens is expected to be released during the first year of Windows 10's availability. It features a sleek design, a set of twin lenses, and an all-in-one headband, which looks highly impressive. Additionally, there are two rings that almost encompasses in the head. The outer ring has all the hardware that runs the device. On the other hand, the inner ring is adjustable to the user's head.
Furthermore, Microsoft HoloLens will be powered by three processors - CPU, GPU, and HPU. It is said that the most remarkable among the three is the Holographic Processing Unit, which handles all data that comes from the sensors of the device and in turn makes sense of the world around it.
The inertial measurement unit (IMU) or advanced sensors and the head tracking cameras enable the HoloLens to understand where the user's head is and how it's moving. The sensors also include magnanometer, gyroscope, and accelerometer to track the user's movement within the environment.
Nonetheless, Microsoft's HoloLens will be a sure hit when it comes out in the market. 2016 will definitely be a year for innovative virtual reality devices.
Join the Conversation