Intel’s Project Alloy mixed reality headset takes on the Microsoft HoloLens

Mr. KKrzanic said that the Project Alloy head mounted display (HMD) has compute, graphics, batteries, cameras and sensors all built-in, so it is a self-contained unit that doesn’t need to be plugged in for normal use. This gives the user a free range of motion with 6 degrees-of-freedom across a large space. The project also allows for collision detection and avoidance enabling users to utilize physical movement in virtual space. It’s part of Intel’s push around “merged reality”, which combines both VR and augmented reality into a single cohesive experience.

Intel hasn’t said much about the processor or other technology powering Project Alloy, but the company has announced it’s working with Microsoft on software for the platform, based on Microsoft’s Windows Holographic system. With Intel RealSense technology, you can the above elements but you can also use your hands to interact with things of the virtual world.

Intel on Tuesday introduced its Project Alloy, a wireless virtual reality visors for merged reality. The headset, significantly different from the current generations of VR headsets as claimed by the company, is based on Intel’s RealSense technology.

The Alloy hardware as well as the APIs for the ecosystem will be available to developers and Intel partners as an open platform in 2017.

Still unimpressed? In addition to tracking your hands, you can also grab something from the real world and incorporate it into the virtual one, which is the company’s first example of merged reality.

“Merged reality delivers virtual-world experiences more dynamically and naturally than ever before”, he wrote in a blog post, “and makes experiences impossible in the real world now possible”.

Intel and Microsoft are teaming up for mixed reality. The sensors, combined with the RealSense cameras would make it possible to safely navigate through your home while wearing the headset.