What was once thought completely absurd is becoming reality. Our smartphones, 3-D televisions, Xboxes and Playstations have already been whisking us away from everyday reality for years. We often forget what’s happening around us and immerse ourselves in the expanses of the computer images. Reality disappears, virtuality appears before our eyes. The adult brain knows it’s like that and can distinguish between the two. But what happens when we’re wearing glasses that mix the two?
I never was a Gameboy kid and wasn’t allowed to watch cartoons on SuperRTL because my parents thought it was way too disturbing for a child to watch, and yet, or maybe precisely for that reason, I’m absolutely fascinated by virtual reality. When I put on the reality glasses for the first time, my pulse starts to race. To be honest it’s all a bit too much for me. I need a few goes before it does what I want it to. The HoloLens also weighs a bit. HoloLens is what Microsoft calls its mixed-reality glasses. But how could you expect these funky glasses to be light when they’re virtually a fully blown computer. Nonetheless they weigh much less than my laptop at home, I think to myself and wonder whether they can do just as much. It’s something I tried to find out in the Telekom Design Gallery. For it’s there that Deutsche Telekom is already testing a usage scenario for the HoloLens.
Abracadabra
The HoloLens are not purely augmented or virtual reality glasses. Unlike their predecessors such as the Google Glass they combine the advantages of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). That’s why Microsoft came up with the name of mixed-reality glasses. Using various sensors they scan their surroundings in three dimensions. Each space is automatically scanned and becomes an interactive showroom in which digital content can be viewed, modified or presented. And what’s so wacky about it all is that you can still see what’s around you. I can see the shelves, the wall, the chair, which I can also see without the glasses, which are really there, and the virtual object is integrated into these surroundings when I look through the glasses. The HoloLens dispenses with a screen, mouse or keyboard. I control the cursor using my eyes and my fingers execute the commands. What’s important is that my arm always has to be in my field of vision; otherwise the glasses do not recognize my gestures. At the start I open the menu by stretching my arm out with the palm of my hand turned upwards and open my hand as if I was going to conjure up something. To launch apps or programs, I look at the required field, tap on it with my index finger and hey presto: ping, it opens.I launch a program called “Essential Anatomy.” In front of my eyes a human body appears and Cortana provides me with further information and instructions in my ear. Cortana is the iPhone Siri for the HoloLens as she can actually talk. With the virtual body in front of my eyes I can now look more closely at the model, look at bone structure, arteries and organs up close and have them explained to me. I can rotate and turn it and click through the functions or, rather, flick through them. I slowly get a feel for how to use it, my initial skepticism subsides and I start having lots of fun.
Exploiting the potential
You need a stable, highly powerful network for this large number of application scenarios. For the programs to be user-friendly, in other words fast, you need minimal latency. That is the network’s response time. High-speed data transmission is the key. No one wants a long wait before the glasses do what they want them to do. When I put the HoloLens back on after a break during my test, my gaze sweeps through the room and comes to rest on this animated body which I had positioned there exactly half an hour ago. Being able to project true-to-life virtual objects in front of us in the room opens up some unimaginable opportunities. First you have architects and designers that can show their customers the house or the car before it’s even been built. An entirely new form of production planning and the possibility of getting feedback from the customer early on. Which in the end means that orders can be tailored even more to needs, way before mistakes are made. Deutsche Telekom is utilizing this potential in-house and is already testing a prototype with the HoloLens which could be used in the industrial segment. A support engineer for machinery could, for instance, carry out complex repairs and maintenance work virtually and instruct machine operators or personnel on-site even though that same engineer might be sitting miles away. Using the HoloLens in customer service is another conceivable application. A service employee can also instruct a customer at home who might need help setting up their router. An entirely new form of interaction that makes the work more professional and can make it much simpler. In this way, vulnerabilities, risks or problems could be identified in advance and minimized, or, in the best case scenario, eliminated.
Hello future!
Objects become three-dimensional, almost tangible and experiential, all of which opens up entirely new possibilities and catapults us into the digital age. Before my test is over and I have to take the HoloLens off again, I get the chance to shoot a few robot monsters getting out of their spaceship or pop from the walls and shelves of the Telekom Design Gallery. The kind of thing you would expect mixed-reality glasses to be able to do. My verdict is that the possibilities are definitely much greater than I expected. Hello future!
