The Microsoft HoloLens has the potential to shift the world’s way of using computers by creating a holographic, wearable interface for experiencing and manipulating the digital world. The full implementation of mixed reality may be a few years away, but popular Polish printer manufacturer Zortrax has made a step towards bringing it closer, by designing and 3D printing the quadcopter featured in the impressive HoloLens demonstration from Microsoft.
At the Microsoft Windows 10 press event, a user wears the HoloLens computing device to design a quadcopter piece by piece in digital CAD software. The demo shows off a number of exciting features for the wearable, including gesture control, the ability to display the POV of the wearer, and, of course, the augmented reality made possible by the HoloLens. Finally, the quadcopter designed by Lorraine in the video is brought into the real world via 3D printing.
The ability of the HoloLens and 3D printing to blend the digital and physical worlds inspired Zortrax to bridge that divide themselves, creating their own 3D printed quadcopter.
Now, all we need is the HoloLens with which to design it! The HoloLens is scheduled to be released in a “Windows 10 timeframe”, which suggests that it will come out when Windows 10 does, scheduled for “sometime this year”.
