Microsoft uses mixed reality Spatial 3D for virtual meetings

In some ways, mixed-reality technology is a solution in search of a problem. It is already used by companies to guide employees wearing headphones in product assembly or facility repair. But Microsoft thinks it can use more technology in its headquarters.

The company has been collaborating for some time with the Spatial mixed reality content company to help create collaborative workplace applications that take place in a virtual space. Collaboration is at the heart of Microsoft's mission and is an important battleground in the competition with Google.

Spatial played a role in the main demonstration of the future workplace at last year's meeting, but its presentation was much colder this year. This was due in part to further integration with Microsoft – and the fact that Spatial has a much more powerful mixed-reality Microsoft headset: the HoloLens 2.

Here is the demo of Spatial Mobile World Congress with his client Mattel:

Developers attending the Seattle Build Conference on Monday saw Spatial co-founder Anand Agarawala give a demonstration of a virtual meeting where attendees, all wearing HoloLens, collaborated to design a hologram of robot. Participants from other locations were represented by holographic avatars. They could all access data from Microsoft productivity applications; With HoloLens now tracking documents manually, users could retrieve a virtual document and send it to another participant in the virtual space. They could even adjust the size and positioning of the robot with their hands. Participants could also write annotations around the drawing.

It's not just hands, either. Agarawala says that Spatial uses HoloLens 2 eye tracking to accurately reflect users' eye movements in their avatars in a virtual space. The eye tracking is good enough to let the avatars "convey subtle levels of user emotion," says Agarawala.

This mixed reality / collaboration business is a big effort for Microsoft. The company adds a "Spatial Rooms" tab to its Team collaboration application (similar to Slack). In Spatial Rooms, users can work on projects, customize the room and come back to continue the work later. Meetings are also more inclusive now because Spatial allows people to join a meeting via the web or a smartphone.

The graphics in Build's Spatial demo were not perfect, but they were a big improvement over what I saw in last year's presentation. The holograms were still a little rough (Spatial represents people with holographic avatars, not cartoon type avatars used in Facebook spaces). Nevertheless, Spatial makes every effort to make technology a reality. useful, if not totally realistic.