Thursday, January 21, 2016
HOLOLENS - CHOOSE THE DEMO
Hololens allowed everyone to share their ideas for Hololens projects. Then Microsoft picked three. Beginning at 12 PM Pacific (3 PM NY) for 24 hours anyone can vote on which demo MS will execute (and share the development process).
The FINALISTS are here:
https://microsoftstudios.com/hololens/shareyouridea/thefinalvote/
Here's my take:
I am somewhat disappointed in the 3 projects selected for possible
development, as they make only basic use of only a few of the capabilities of
the Hololens.
GALAXY EXPLORER has (potentially)
the most interesting content, but makes little use of the essential/unique
properties of the Hololens. In particular. It only uses the fact that the space
you are in has walls, and that you are untethered. There is little or nothing in this project that
could not be done as well with any powerful VR system (including a tethered Rift – with virtual motion).
AIRQUARIUM
also uses only the untethered property of the Hololens, and that in a limited
way: it almost requires the space to be free of
obstacles that could be a tripping hazard. Robotic or even autonomous fish are
possible in any VR system; since the fish are computer generated, info about
the fish is not really AR: any VR system can deliver info about objects it has
generated. Now, if this App worked in a REAL aquarium, allowing you to “interact”
with REAL fish (eg that swim into your
virtual space or which you could “dissect” as they swim) that would be more
of a demo of unique Hololens attributes. The best thing about this project is
the name.
GRAB THE IDOL (which
has the worst name) is an uninspired game.
It does make the best use of the real space in which it is played.
Everything else depends on the quality of the game design, puzzle creation and
visual effects (and finding a better name).
GALAXY EXPLORER showcases the ability of the Hololens to
manage and use a huge database of information with a visual user interface. AIRQUARIUM showcases the ability of the
Hololens to create virtual creatures that interact with the user. GRAB THE IDOL
showcases the ability of the Hololens to create a fictional interactive overlay
on a complex real space. But while these projects showcase specific features,
they do not (on the face of the descriptions
given) really do credit to the full range of the Hololens’ unique
combination of features. Also, these projects all seem aimed at grade-school
aged children (though implementation
could make the content as advanced as desired). None seem designed as directly
suggestive of business applications.
Some of the features of the Hololens used by these
applications are:
Spatial
mapping
Spatial
audio
Voice
control
Gaze control
Gesture
control
Creation of
images and text placed in the mapped space
Creation of
high quality images
Interaction
(eg IMU) with the virtual images
Accessing a
(local or possibly remote) large database
of information
Some of the
features that are not used are:
The ability
to send real information about a space to a remote user
The ability
of two or more users, local or remote, to interact with each other
The ability
to identify and provide information about real objects
The use of audio
or video recording or streaming
Complex
features of Cortana
The ability
of generated creatures to interact with moving objects or real (live) creatures
The ability to
create autonomous interacting creatures more complex than fish
The ability
to create really interesting, fun applications
The ability
to do complex tasks where a complex series of features are required for
implementation
The ability
to navigate between tasks
The use of a
GPS for location specific tasks
The ability
to use the Hololens to create art, drama, music …
The ability
to do useful, interesting, unique commercial work such as
Virtual shopping
Virtual selling
Office tasks
Unstructured searching and
research
Product development
Teleconferencing
…
The fact
that the Hololens is attractive and futuristic
The very fact
that wearing the Hololens is a “fashion” “lifestyle” statement
The problems
with the three selected applications are that (a) they are all similar in their
target audience (b) use features of the Hololens that can for the most part be
replicated in other VR and AR systems and (c) are not on their face obviously
importantly useful, compelling, or really fun.
Of the
applications, GALAXY EXPLORER and AIRQUARIUM have some very interesting
features, but they do not show off enough of what makes the Hololens important and
unique, so I’ll have to pick GRAB THE
IDOL, the game, partly because we know the least about it, so it can be most easily
improved. It does use a distinct
feature of the Hololens, the ability to map the app onto a random space. Perhaps the specific challenges in the game when
programmed will be fun, and illustrate lots of features of the Hololens. In
fact, since this game is open ended, specific challenges could incorporate the
features of well-designed autonomous creatures from AIRQUARIUM; the large database
and visual data interface from GALAXY EXPLORER; and task navigation (by selecting the order of challenges to
tackle). I’d also recommend (and hope
the project adds): (a) A NAME
CHANGE! and (b) multiplayer (even remote)
features.
The official Hololens site is:
The Hololens YouTube Channel is:
