Introduction 

Augmented and mixed reality will grow significantly over the next five years. MarketsandMarkets claims the augmented reality market will eclipse 88 billion dollars by 2026. AR and MR technologies are becoming significant forces worldwide, with companies like Microsoft leading the way in developing them. 

Microsoft HoloLens is the mixed reality project that the multimedia tycoon is nurturing. Microsoft claims that HoloLens is capable of boosting an organization’s productivity in a variety of industries. Among these industries are healthcare, manufacturing, and education. Embracing a fundamental understanding of HoloLens technology could help you and your team develop industry-leading products.

This article will address this basis of understanding. We will also tackle the information surrounding Microsoft HoloLens and how it pertains to you and your business. 

Everything Important About HoloLens 

What Is It? 

Microsoft developed the HoloLens, a mixed-reality head-mounted display unit- a holographic computer. They released the first version in 2015, and the current HoloLens 2 model is now available. Microsoft intends for the HoloLens to change the world by providing “an ergonomic and precise holographic device that can increase user accuracy and input.”

Read more- Why Do You Need To Use Mixed Reality?

Microsoft

Who Is It For? 

Many people can benefit from HoloLens’s features. However, Microsoft is now marketing its mixed reality technology to a few major industries: manufacturing, healthcare, and education. 

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Manufacturing 

HoloLens can revolutionize the manufacturing process similarly to the lean manufacturing revolution. It aims to accomplish this by improving employee onboarding, upskilling, and reducing errors and waste. Major businesses such as Mercedes-Benz and Lockheed Martin demonstrated how Hololens can improve manufacturing. We will discuss these further later in the article. 

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Healthcare 

HoloLens is reimaging what healthcare can look like and accomplishes this new image by speeding up diagnoses, reducing time-to-care, enabling personalization, and improving overall results. Using HoloLens, health professionals can connect remotely with other experts, access patient data instantly, and bypass MRIs and X-rays to see 3-D renderings of a patient’s body. The innovations provided by HoloLens are genuinely incredible, and it is more astonishing when you realize that this is only the beginning.

Read our success story- Reduced time on task from several hours to minutes

Education 

HoloLens provides students with an alternative learning platform. Microsoft claims that It improves student engagement and expands student reach. Due to the pandemic, remote learning is becoming more feasible, which HoloLens capitalizes on. Once again, many successful use cases back Microsoft’s claims, and we will discuss them later. 

Learn more- Everything You Need to Know About Immersive Virtual Reality

The Features of HoloLens 

Microsoft has a big vision for HoloLens. It wants to enable developers to build an ecosystem similar to Apple’s app store. Many of Microsoft’s other technologies are integrated into the HoloLens, giving developers more room to experiment. 

Read more- Augmented Reality: A Comprehensive Guide

Holograms 

Microsoft HoloLens device lets users view holograms. A holographic computer makes it possible to create a photographic image of an object without using a lens. The technology works by recording 3D objects using a laser and restoring them to match the originally recorded object. If you have ever seen the Star Wars films, you are already familiar with what a Hologram is. Thanks to HoloLens or a hololens device, holograms are no longer a far-fetched sci-fi concept; they are quickly becoming a reality.

Lumina

Cortana 

Cortana is a virtual assistant developed by Microsoft that uses the Bing search engine to perform tasks such as setting reminders and answering questions for the user. Most people are aware of what Cortana is. However, most people are unaware that Microsoft has integrated Cortana into the functionality of the HoloLens. HoloLens has built-in voice commands that work with Cortana. 

Geekwire

Cloud 

HoloLens 2 integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Azure cloud computing services. Companies can use HoloLens to oversee their data, apps, and devices, similar to how individuals use computers to keep track of work using Microsft’s Office 365. Microsoft is pushing the boundaries of integrating its preexisting technologies with HoloLens, making for a better product than its previous iterations. 

Learn more- Google AR: A Comprehensive Guide to ARCore

Why Should You Consider It? 

HoloLens has developed many use cases across many industries, furthering its efficacy. Below are some of these use cases. By reading on, you should be able to determine how the HoloLens device can fit into your business plan.

Read more- The Mistake of Designing an App that is Output Driven, Not Outcome Driven. 

Customer Facing  

ApoQlar is a German, mixed reality-based medical startup utilizing HoloLens technology. In Germany, around 20 million people visit hospitals for treatment every year. Many of those treated in German hospitals must undergo some form of surgery. During pre-surgery preparations, surgeons explain the issue to the patient in layman’s words. Many patients find it hard to understand why the procedure is needed and how it works. This can be a confusing experience. To remedy this problem, the professionals at ApoQlar developed a cloud-based program that generates a 3D picture from MRI and CT scans and presents it in the HoloLens mixed reality headset. By seeing a 3-D display, the patients can understand the procedure better and have fewer worries before the operation. 

Microsoft

Employee Facing 

Earlier in 2021, Microsoft scored a massive contract with the U.S. Army. With this contract, Microsoft will build over 120,000 headsets, and the deal could reach 22 billion dollars over the next 10 years. The army will use these headsets to train its soldiers in various realms of combat, similar to how the Air Force has used virtual reality to train its pilots. This deal is a massive win for Microsoft because it shows that their technology is practical, in-demand, and easily accessible. 

Read more- Augmented Reality Technology Made Simple

Early Stage 

MEDIVIS is an early-stage startup focused on creating platforms that make navigating surgical procedures more manageable. As many people are aware, surgery is a complicated process. MEDIVIS’s HoloLens-based imaging product, SurgicalAR, is meant to make surgery planning less difficult. 

Traditional 2-D images used to visualize a patient’s body naturally have limitations, and the HoloLens 2 aims to remove these limitations. Using the HoloLens, surgeons can view interactive 3-D images with a more accurate view of their operation. Companies such as MEDIVIS hope to continue using the features provided by the HoloLens to create a more visionary world of surgery. 

Microsoft

Mature Stage  

Crunchbase states that Lockheed Martin is a security company engaged in developing and manufacturing advanced technology systems and products. Lockheed Martin is building the Orion spacecraft, an advanced deep-space vehicle. The building process is challenging due to the high precision needed to make Orion ready for the extremes of space travel. Lockheed realized it needed mixed reality to address the needs of the building process. To help streamline instruction delivery and to empower accurate, efficient building processes, Lockheed Martin decided to use Microsoft HoloLens 2. Once Lockheed Martin began using HoloLens with its software on the Orion build project, The team made significant improvements to build operations in terms of time and accuracy. Demonstrating the implementation of MR in advanced aerospace projects was a crucial milestone for AR and MR technologies.

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Growth Stage 

The popular automotive brand Mercedes-Benz hopped on the HoloLens bandwagon during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mercedes-Benz trained over 1,200 automotive technicians to use HoloLens 2 headsets for remote assistance. In the past, a technician might have to wait days for a field service engineer to travel to the dealership to help with a complex problem. However, with the HoloLens 2, a technician with a headset at any dealership can immediately connect with one of several specialists nationwide. Through remote-assist software, the specialist can see what the technician sees using a desktop or tablet headset. HoloLens provides the ability to communicate with an expert anywhere in the world in real-time. This tremendous feat has allowed manufacturing facilities to resolve complex issues quickly. 

The product development team must thoroughly understand the industry to resonate with customers. Designial has expertise in multiple industries.

How HoloLens Relates to UX 

We have discussed the features of HoloLens, including holograms, Cortana, cloud services, and partnerships with the Pentagon. Microsoft aims to make its mixed reality technologies mimic real-world experiences. This is an ambitious goal, but Microsofcanto has achieved it. Microsoft’s mixed reality and augmented reality technology is ahead of its competitors. Google and Apple have promising technologies but do not match the broad scope of Microsoft’s mixed reality. The user experience is essential, and Microsoft’s mixed reality features create a rich user experience.

Conclusion 

There is much in store for the future of Microsoft HoloLens. With its incredible features and grand vision, it will be interesting to see how the technology impacts businesses in the future. We know much was discussed in this article, but hopefully, you can make a more informed decision about how to use HoloLens in your business. However, if you have any questions about HoloLens, please get in touch with us at designial.com, and if you’d like to read more about AR and MR-based technologies, please visit our other blog posts. We cover these topics in great detail. 

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.