Microsoft may be exploring new AR gestures controls with wand-like patent

With HoloLens 2.0 not scheduled until sometime in 2019, Microsoft has carved out a nice chunk of time for its developers to fully explore the limits of its initial augmented reality platform and it looks like that exploration could include additional gesture controls.

Thanks to some digging by @h0x0d, aka, the WalkingCat we now know that Microsoft has filed a patent for a wand-like input device to accompany its augmented reality platform.

https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/900174091264471040

The WalkingCat goes on to reference a stylus-like pen as a comparison for Microsoft’s latest patent functionality. The stylus-like pen was used by Google Draw which was another accompaniment to Google’s initial AR attempt with Google Glass.

While Apple and Google continue to work on more mainstream handheld applications for augmented reality, it appears that Microsoft is positioning its AR approach to be a full-scale computing replacement environment, equipped with re-envisioned input methods.

It’ll probably be a few more months before we start to really see some demos of what HoloLens 2.0 will bring to the AR game, but with onboard AI, new gesture controls and perhaps a sleeker design, it should be worth the wait.