Mixed reality is the next wave in the computing landscape, succeeding mainframes, PCs, and smartphones. It holds significant importance for both consumers and businesses alike. Unlike traditional on-screen interactions, mixed reality seamlessly integrates with our living spaces, fostering a natural and data-connected experience with friends. Across the globe, hundreds of millions of mobile users have already encountered mixed reality through their mobile devices. Mobile augmented reality (AR) provides practical, real-world solutions commonly seen on social media platforms today. Many users may need to recognize that the AR filters they frequently use on Instagram are, in fact, instances of mixed reality. Taking this user experience to new heights, mixed reality with HoloLens offers an impressive portrayal of holographic individuals, highly dependable 3D models, and a seamless integration with the world around them. 

Westford USA, April 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The forecast period (2023-2030) predicts that the Mixed Reality market will reach USD 15.5 billion, exhibiting a CAGR of 44.5%. The increasing demand for AR/VR devices, the growth in various applications, and advancements in hardware and software technology contribute to increased research and development investment. This, coupled with the growing popularity of smart glasses and head-mounted displays, is fueling market expansion.   

SkyQuest’s latest research report highlights that the enterprise market for smart glasses is projected to reach $12.8 billion by 2025, with the primary use being for training and remote assistance in sectors like healthcare, logistics, and manufacturing. Additionally, the survey shows that 47% of respondents are presently utilizing or piloting smart glasses for educational and training purposes, with an additional 21% planning to do so within the following year.   

What is Mixed Reality? 

Mixed reality encompasses a spectrum of immersive experiences that connect and mix physical and digital worlds and increased reality and video game applications.   

The mixed reality system is associated with the rising landscape of physical and digital interactions, restricted solely by your imagination. Windows Mixed Reality takes these user experiences to a succeeding level with gorgeous holographic representations of individuals, hi-fi holographic 3D models, and the globe around them.   

What is a Hologram? 

HoloLens allows you to experience holograms—objects composed of light and sound that appear as natural objects within your surroundings. Holograms respond to your gaze, gestures, and voice commands, even interacting with real-world surfaces. They are digital entities seamlessly integrated into your physical environment. When you designate a specific location for a holograph, you can position it precisely within the world. As you move around, the holograph remains stationary, becoming a constant presence in your surroundings. It retains its location, acting like a tangible entity about the world around you. If you use the pinning feature, the system will remember the hologram’s location when you return later. 

Manipulating captures and virtual objects:  

Mixed reality can produce virtual objects of people, animals, things, etc. However, during this process, you may require that object or character to interact with other virtual characters/objects for scanning.   

Core Concepts:   

• Point and commit with hand rays  
• Scene understanding  
• Room scan visualization and spatial mapping  
• Eye tracking  
• Coordinate systems  
• Holographic frame  
• Spatial awareness  
• Hand tracking  
• Head tracking and eye tracking  

Features:  

1. Camera: Optimize visual quality and holograph stability in your Mixed Reality apps.   
2. World Locking and Spatial Anchors: Resolve stabilization issues, adjust the camera, and integrate a stable system to ensure your holograms stay in place.  
3. Shared Experiences: Enable multiple users to view the same holograms worldwide on their device.   
4. Eye Tracking (Gaze): Helps users to move the camera or target object using their eyes.   
5. Hand Gestures: Interact with objects and manipulate them using hands.    
6. Spatial Mapping: Map your physical area with a virtual mesh overlay to define object boundaries and provide a real-world feel.   
7. Spatial Sound: Enhance your apps with immersive 360-degree audio for an enhanced sound experience.   
8. Voice Input: Capture sound and act accordingly.   
9. Head Tracking: Detect the position of the head to determine the location of holograms in the real world. It helps the user interact with objects easily by two tracking methods, i.e., head gaze and commit or head gaze and dwell.   

Industries where HoloLens is set to make a huge impact:  

1.Healthcare:  

While it involves medical care, mixed reality tools have exponential applications, particularly in coaching and teaching. An example can be above-the-shoulder surgical treatments, where medical students can be trained remotely and guided by professionals as they perform surgeries.   

HoloLens helps doctors prepare for complicated surgeries and connect with other doctors virtually for guidance during surgeries.   

2. Industry and Manufacturing:  

Companies like Volvo and Mercedes-Benz use Augmented Reality apps during training sessions for complex vehicle repair tasks. There is special AR training to readjust ADAS sensors after changing windshields or other ADAS-related parts during repair. For example, it is convenient if a workman can see the entire vehicle as a 3d object. The new HoloLens 2 helps by offering a wide FOV to the workman. It can render the vehicle’s mode details, and it allows workers to view larger objects at close range. 

3.Training and Education:  

HoloLens plays a vital role in education, particularly on platforms like ROC Mondrian. Students using the training platform can take resuscitation courses in augmented reality. With the CRP Plus application and HoloLens2, students can learn CPR with a defibrillator (AED) and practice recovery positions. These mixed reality concepts in CRP enable students to learn, give live tests, and practice independently at any time and location.   

4.Marketing:  

Using HoloLens 2, people can virtually experience a showroom or any place and buy things like paintings, furniture, and electronic gadgets. The Leuven Museum in Belgium offers a virtual tour using HoloLens 2, enabling users to view and assess artworks and objects in the context of their own spaces before making a purchase decision.

5.Entertainment:       

With the innovation of mixed reality using HoloLens, the entertainment industry has experienced a significant shift. Compared to traditional VR experiences with headsets, HoloLens enhances entertainment, creating more exciting and interactive scenarios. For example, during the Halloween season, wearing HoloLens can make AR models more interactive, providing a heightened sense of reality and delivering a new genre of entertainment experiences in movies, roller coasters, and games.   

Conclusion 

In today’s generation, where gadgets are becoming part of human life, mixed reality is essential in many sectors, including healthcare, entertainment, manufacturing, and education. With its big vision and great features, Microsoft has much more to do with its HoloLens in the future. Seeing how Mixed Reality technology will impact different business industries is interesting.   

By combining the cutting-edge and leading performance of the Snapdragon Mobile Compute Platform with the best of Microsoft’s mixed reality platform and Azure services, Qualcomm Technologies and Microsoft are enabling an entirely new form factor and class of user experiences using HoloLens 2.