On 3rd March 2021, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella and Mixed Reality Technical Fellow, Alex Kipman held an event giving details about Microsoft’s new “Holoportation” technology.
Basically, the technology is a blend of avatars, augmented and virtual reality, allowing people to virtually teleport themselves to meetings.
Holoportation is a new immersive communication system that leverages consumer augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) display technologies and combines these with a state-of-the-art, real-time 3D capture system.
It all started in 2016 when Microsoft laid the first stone on its new HoloLens mixed reality platform. Very Often, the company used to take trials of different potential features which could have possibly arrived in the market at any given time.
Among those features was ‘holoportation’, the ability to be in a shared space with someone else virtually. It became very clear when in 2019, just after two years of its inception, advancement in the technology was shared publicly in the idea at Ignite 2019 event.
Presently, after the announcement of Microsoft mesh which is a new mixed-reality platform powered by its Azure cloud service. Holoportation has become even more real which will eventually result in communicating and interacting with remote users as natural as face-to-face communication.
Alex Kipman, the Technical Fellow for AI and Mixed Reality in the Cloud and AI Group at Microsoft, actually used the holoportation technology to give his presentation on the Ignite conference virtual stage. During the conference, he explained how this technology will enhance work, travel, business, and life in general.
In his keynote speech, Kipman stated, “You can walk in a manufacturing facility with someone. Even if I am not there, I can be in an operating room with someone, so that we can then have the same physical feeling of presence.”
Tentatively, VR technology is growing more sophisticated and widespread and because of this breakthrough, Microsoft will play a huge role in shaping the future of this Industry.
Furthermore, Holographic displays, which give groups of people the ability to gather around a dynamic virtual world can solve a lot of issues when it comes to being at someplace important.
Collaborating with Ray Dalio, founder of OceanX, Microsoft has also put a holographic lab on the Ocean X research vessel. Because of this, scientists and researchers from organizations around the world will be able to gather either in person or virtually to witness 3D holograms of the areas exploring.
Adding to that, Guy Laliberté, the founder of Lune Rouge and Cirque du Soleil (a shows and tickets discovery program), also attended the event through holoportation.
Laliberté explained that how Microsoft Mesh helped his company bring to life a project called ‘Hanai World’, which is a new platform for creators and groups, making it possible for people to attend an event digitally and virtually simultaneously.
His emphasis was on social connections during the event, he mentioned, “Human connections are at the center of Hanai World as they are and they should be at the center of our lives.”
The founder of Lune Rouge also explained how the need to interact, share, and connect with one another is in our natural innate disposition.
The CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella in his concluding remarks left a message of hope by stating, “We believe the next decade will require technological advances that radically democratize creation.” he added, “We will need to expand access to skills, tools, and platforms as well as connections and collaborations across communities so that everyone can create.”
