HoloLens: What the hell is this `Mixed Reality?`
More than sixty years have passed since the first patent on Virtual Reality and fifteen years have passed since the movie “Minority Report” on the Augmented Reality.
In spite of this, I often read articles where there is confusion between the two technologies.
Furthermore, Microsoft introduced a new term called “Mixed Reality”. This new type of “reality” is the technology of its new invention called HoloLens.
What is the difference?
Virtual Reality immerses the user into a world self-contained and out of the real world.
Augmented Reality superimposes the virtual elements in the real world.
What about Mixed Reality?
“Mixed Reality” is a more appropriate way of calling Augmented Reality.
When I talk about Augmented Reality, people who do not know her ask me: “… augmented what?”
There are applications where data appear near a real object. In this case, we have “data augmented reality”. There are applications that make us appear a little alien in our living room. In this case is not very appropriate to talk about “alien augmented reality”! So it is better to talk about Mixed Reality as a mix of augmented and virtual reality.
With “mixed”, Microsoft also intends that HoloLens have both augmented and virtual experiences.
Let us now understand how the HoloLens work. In HoloLens we have three forms of interaction with objects:
Gaze: This is the pointing method. It helps to determine where the user is looking at. In the real world, the user looks in the direction of the object he wants to use: this is the “gaze”. HoloLens use the position and orientation of the user’s head and not his eyes to determine the gaze vector. One can imagine how a laser beam starts from the eyes of the user and goes out in the frontal direction. The application can intercept this ray to understand what the user is watching.
Gestures: gestures allow the user to interact with Mixed Reality through his hands. The input through gestures allows natural interaction. You can also use a “clicker” that is a physical gesture device. To select a hologram, point it through the gaze and click it with an air-tap (the “click” gesture of the hand) or with a clicker.
Voice: Allows you to give a command to a hologram without having to use gestures. Look at a hologram and give it a voice command. Voice is useful for complex interfaces to replace nested menus with only one command. The same engine that supports the Windows Universal Apps, supports also Voice Input.
Spatial sound makes the sound with HoloLens as realistic as possible. When an object is out of the visual field a way to perceive it is through the sound. The audio engine simulates 3D sound using direction, distance, and environment. The spatial sound allows developers to put realistic sound into a three-dimensional space.
The most decisive part of Microsoft’s Mixed Reality is the spatial mapping. It provides a detailed representation of real-world surfaces around HoloLens. This means that holograms are not just superimposed but are in a precise spot of space (the wall, the floor … etc).
The critical point of HoloLens will be the cost. Currently, the Development Edition is affordable at $ 3000. It is still unclear what the price of the version will be for the public.
In conclusion, Microsoft has created the ingredients to provide users with many experiences. These experiences are so many that they are currently hard to imagine. The future is here, but how successful this technology can have is everything to test.
Let’s see what happens…
Francesco Pallotta is a senior software engineer, expert in software design and development. He works in the field of Space and Defense. He deals with application development techniques for virtual reality and augmented reality.
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