New Microsoft HoloLens Demo Targets Engineers, Designers, and Collaborators
A new demo from Microsoft demonstrates how HoloLens can streamline the process of robotics innovation.
Microsoft is billing HoloLens as the first fully untethered, holographic computer. But since its big reveal at the start of this year, the press hasn’t learned much more about the supposed gamechanger. It’s unclear, for instance, when the HoloLens is likely to hit the market: Rumors are that the developer’s version of the HoloLens VR headset will be available sometime in early 2016. That’s not long from now, which means the rollout presumably needs to start soon. The new HoloLens preview Microsoft posted late last night may represent the beginning of that process.
What’s most interesting about the video is how it goes out of its way to point out how applicable the technology will be for engineers working in corporate settings. Microsoft isn’t exactly going mass market here.
In the demo, Microsoft is collaborating with software corporation Autodesk to demonstrate how HoloLens can be a practical tool. The designers and engineers in the video make the case that HoloLens allows them to interact in real time in a shared workspace, actually visually showing what they’ve only previously seen in their head. This means enhanced collaboration less physical prototypes, and faster creation of products.
That’s all fair, but it is frankly a bit disappointing to see the HoloLens being used to make game controllers rather to play games. It would seem that fun is — in the rich Microsoft tradition — beside the point.
