Microsoft has done another amazing thing with its augmented reality (AR) HoloLens headset and it is called Holoportation.

Microsoft Research’s Interactive 3D Technologies (I3D) team has developed Holoportation using multiple 3D cameras to capture a subject from all angles that creates a temporary consistent model, imitating the feeling of someone being in a room with the user. It then projects them into another room where a HoloLens user can see them and interact with them.

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"When combined with mixed reality displays such as HoloLens, this technology allows users to see and interact with remote participants in 3D as if they are actually present in their physical space. Communicating and interacting with remote users becomes as natural as face to face communication,” says the Microsoft research team.

However, there are still key parts of human interaction that are missing. Holoportation users cannot touch one another and it is possible for one person to walk through the other in the middle of a conversation. HoloLens's field of view may only allow users to only see their conversation partners through a rectangular window at the center of their vision. In other words, people who holoport into conversations could appear like they are floating in midair. It is hard to know without trying out on the HoloLens hardware itself.

Alex Kipman, the head of the HoloLens project at Microsoft, showed off the capability of Holoportation at the TED conference in Vancouver last month. NASA scientist Jeff Norris joined him on stage digitally with the help of a specialized camera rig, and the two of them discussed the potential of the HoloLens as a tool for science.

The I3D team also works on projects that merge various things including research on 3D graphics, computer vision, machine learning, novel hardware, augmented reality and NUI natural user interfaces. In addition, they were previously involved with other similarly themed research projects including Kinect Fusion and HoloDesk.

Microsoft aims to provide more HoloLens information, education and demonstrations during its Build 2016 developers conference in San Francisco from March 30 to April 1.

TagsMicrosoft, HoloLens, Augmented Reality, holoportation, Hologram