In a live presentation, Chief Inventor for Microsoft's Studio C Alex Kipman and members of his team demonstrated some of the early functionality of the HoloLens, including a "holographic" video of Microsoft executive Terry Myerson projected (at least from the HoloLens' perspective) on a small pillar and the construction of a 3-D model with HoloStudio. Kipman called HoloStudio a sort of "Windows Paintbrush" for the three-dimensional world, and models created in HoloStudio can be sent to a 3D printer. A quadrocopter created with HoloStudio was printed in advance of the demonstration and flown onstage.
HoloLens can function as an augmented reality device as well. In addition to an onboard CPU and graphics processor, the headset contains what Microsoft calls a Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) to manage the data pulled in by HoloLens' onboard sensors. The device requires no external cameras, external sensors, or any tether to an external computer. HoloLens tracks the user's eye motions to determine where he or she is looking, and it also recognizes physical gestures with its onboard cameras.
The platform, which has been developed under tight secrecy on the Redmond campus, was introduced to a select number of developers in recent months. It has already drawn the interest of NASA, however. In a collaboration with Jet Propulsion Labs, the technology is being developed to allow scientists to interact and walk around in a projected version of the environment surrounding the Curiosity Mars rover. Eventually, the application—called OnSite— will allow scientists to interact with imagery in order to mark rocks and other geological features for the rover to investigate.