Microsoft’s new Remote Assist app will make HoloLens a less lonely experience

At Build 2018, Microsoft announced a new Remote Assist app that lets users connect with remote experts in mixed reality. In other words, HoloLens is now more collaborative.

With Remote Assist, Microsoft wants workers to be able to solve problems quicker together, even if they’re not physically the same.

For example, HoloLens users will be able to share photos, video chat, and even annotate what they’re seeing with remote experts, and vice versa. Remote users don’t need to use a HoloLens to collaborate; they can use laptops, tablets, PCs, phones — doesn’t matter.

Remote Assist is aimed mostly at enterprises (i.e. factories), but we could see it being useful in other scenarios, like in the classroom or even in the office.

Microsoft HoloLens: Collaborate with Microsoft Remote Assist to solve problems

Microsoft also announced Layout, another mixed reality app that allows HoloLens users to “import 3D models to easily create and edit room layouts in real-world scale.”

With Layout, the idea is to provide more realistic virtual experiences that give users a better sense of how their designs will work in reality.

Microsoft HoloLens: Design spaces in real-world context with Microsoft