Microsoft in 2014 launched their first digital assistant and named it Cortana. It was inspired by the artificial intelligence character that appeared in the Halo gaming series as a hologram. It is now available across all major platforms and on a wide range of devices.

Recently a developer has created a hardware experience for Cortana that brings the assistant much closer to its origins. Developer Jarem Archer has created a 3D version of Cortana in holographic form and posted a video demonstrating how he created the holographic interface.

He stated that Windows 10 with 4GB of RAM and a built-in Arduino was used for controlling the platform lights version of the assistant as the actual smarts behind, he animated the hologram in Unity 3D. Motion capture from a couple of Kinect devices, with the help of his wife walking around the room through which he captured the animations needed to transfer over Cortana.

In addition, the device built has very interesting features one of them is face tracking because of which Cortana seems to look at you irrespective of the angle you’re looking at it from, as well as an embedded microphone and speaker through which it interacts with the hologram, despite the assistant actually residing on his computer.

Archer claimed that this device could not only be used to ask questions but also to control automated functions of other devices which he stated that he will demonstrate in his future video. Although the device might be a little bulky but Microsoft is expected to pay attention to this project and will soon release a complete portable holographic assistant to talk to you.

Image Source: hi-news