Siri, Cortana, Alexa, Google Now and Google Assistant… personal assistants on our mobile devices are going through their best moment, but they only offer “bleeps” and “boops” before their answers. For a while we’ve thought they should deliver a much richer visual experience, and software developer Jarem Archer decided to fix this detail by placing Cortana in a holographic pyramid. It’s a work in progress, but the result so far is excellent.
Virtual assistants are here to stay. Their move out of mobile devices is happening through dedicated accessories like Amazon Echo, and in the coming months we will undoubtedly see an accelerated expansion of their presence in homes. Each assistant has specific characteristics, however, Cortana’s holographic origin makes us imagine she deserves something extra. Cortana is much more than a simple voice, especially for fans of the Halo saga. So, how do we bring her to the desktop in a complete way?
The idea of a small holographic assistant is not exactly new, and I bet you still remember the Gatebox project, but developer Jarem Archer followed the DIY route and left us all speechless. The video shows Cortana turned into a Pepper’s ghost inside a custom pyramid. Its hardware is based on a Windows 10 computer with 4GB, while the lights are controlled via Arduino. An omnidirectional microphone was placed on top, and the speaker that plays Cortana’s voice is at the base. On the software side, we see Unity 3D connected to Cortana’s web service thanks to an app that serves as a proxy. This includes facial tracking, so Cortana slightly changes position to deepen the 3D effect. Cortana’s movements were captured using two Kinect units, and Archer’s wife served as model.
Cortana’s condition as a universal app presented some challenges at first, but after several adjustments it turned out to be a great benefit, since its functions are not limited to answering questions, but it can also play multimedia content and control various elements in an automated home. Creating additional universal apps could further extend Cortana’s capabilities, but that’s another story...
