had been searching for a new way to use technology to teach students anatomy Traditionally medical students dissect cadavers to learn about the body but anatomy laboratories filled with cadavers are expensive to maintain and use harsh chemicals The HoloLens pointed to a better way Medical students could strap the devices onto their heads and view three-dimensional images of the human body’s organs and systems The technology allows students to walk around and examine the body’s parts from different angles For example when a student dons the HoloLens to see a holographic heart he or she can move parts of the heart in and out turn the heart around and see the blood pumping Satyam Ghodasara had already taken a traditional anatomy class at Case Western Reserve but it wasn’t until he saw a holographic heart using the HoloLens that he fully saw the aortic valve as separate from the other parts of the heart There’s the aortic valve he exclaimed Now I understand 6 In 2016 at Microsoft’s annual Build conference in San Francisco California a three-dimensional holographic image of Griswold’s head and hand appeared before 10
a packed auditorium Griswold himself was across the country in Cleveland Ohio Griswold’s holographic image guided the audience through an examination of the white matter tracts of the brain fibers that act as superhighways by allowing messages to travel from one part of the brain to another This is our new system Griswold said which allows me to teach and interact with you even though I’m not there This is really changing what it means to be in class 7 Case Western Reserve planned to open an anatomy lab designed with the help of the HoloLens and students will use a curriculum built around the HoloLens Griswold believes the potential uses of the HoloLens in education are limitless I don’t see a class on campus that won’t be affected by the technology he said 8 Griswold is confident that in time the HoloLens will be as common in students backpacks as laptops and smartphones THE HOLOANATOMY APP In partnership with Microsoft and the Cleveland Clinic Griswold led a team at Case Western Reserve that developed HoloAnatomy the first third-party app available for the HoloLens Medical students who previously learned human anatomy by dissecting cadavers tested the HoloAnatomy app Eighty-five percent of the more than three dozen students participating in the study said they learned something new with the HoloLens 9 11
SCIENTISTS WORK ON MARS Like the team at Case Western Reserve scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL in California recognized how the HoloLens could help them In their case the device could assist in studying the planet Mars In 2015 researchers at JPL partnered with Microsoft to develop software for the HoloLens called OnSight With OnSight scientists can put on a mixed-reality headset and walk around Mars’s surface from their offices on Earth The three-dimensional holographic images of Mars come from data collected by the Curiosity rover The rover landed on Mars in August 2012 It is a robotic vehicle that travels over Mars’s surface and collects samples of Martian rocks and soil The rover is equipped with advanced instruments for scientific study Its onboard laboratory can analyze soil and rock samples which can tell scientists about the planet’s climate and geology Part of the rover’s mission is to determine whether Mars has ever been capable of supporting microbes Before the HoloLens technology scientists had to study the rover’s data from Mars on a computer screen Now they can strap on a HoloLens and experience 12
Scientists can get a new perspective on Mars using HoloLens headsets what it would be like to actually walk on the planet’s rocky surface closely examining the landscape from many different angles This tool gives them the ability to explore the rover’s surroundings much as an Earth geologist would do field work here on our planet said Jeff Norris JPL’s OnSight project manager 10 NASA also partnered with Microsoft on Project Sidekick The goal of Project Sidekick was to explore how mixed-reality headsets such as the HoloLens could help astronauts do repairs and other operations on the International Space Station American astronaut Scott Kelly tested the HoloLens during his time on the International Space Station and said the HoloLens helped 13
