LabTech, Modern Science and Working in Mixed Reality

Blending the physical world with digital experiences has been humanity’s dream for decades now. As the technology progresses, this dream becomes our reality.

A possibility to control digital environments with just your voice and hand gestures is almost a Tony Stark experience. Seriously, how cool is that?

Some innovations, like voice commands, have already been here for a while. This gave us time to get used to asking Siri to book our flight, for example. Or to tell Alexa to order the new e-book you’ve been dying to read.

But while voice assistants change the way we use our mobiles, devices like Microsoft HoloLens empower people, who couldn’t use computers at work as conveniently as before — production workers.

This is about to change.

A workplace of the future gives every employee information they need, right in front of their eyes. And this future is closer than we think it might be.

Mixed reality — what’s the whole fuss about?

Virtual and augmented reality need no introduction. Mixed reality, however, is a term that confuses even some tech journalists.

What is for some, just another fancy way to call augmented reality, for others is another step in blending physical and virtual worlds, hence needing a new term.

For those who think that MR should be addressed separately, AR is like a digital overlay displayed on top of physical objects. You can interact with it, but it’s far from perfect.

Mixed reality, however, adds a semantic understanding that enables the software to distinguish objects, humans, or your hand, so you can use more and more intuitive gestures to control the digital environment.

Changing the way labs work

Changing the way people work, making their day-to-day tasks easier and safer, is what I particularly like about devices like Microsoft HoloLens 2.

And the Redmond giant puts it bluntly:

HoloLens 2 is not a consumer product. Its purpose is to change modern workplaces.

One of the possible implementations of this technology is to modernize laboratories. Holo4Labs is a software that is about to change how science is done. This is especially important, as science is what brought us prosperity, health, and peace so far, don’t you agree?

Running on Microsoft HoloLens 2, Holo4Labs is a software that connects with Thermo Fisher LIMS SampleManager™.

Holo4Labs was developed by SoftwareHut IT company, and designed by ExtraHut, UX and digital studio. Thanks to Solution4Labs’ experience in implementing LIMS in hundreds of laboratories, it’s well fit for the lab environment.

Using just their hand gestures and voice commands, scientists can examine samples, get the data they need, and upload it to SampleManager ™. The data is then easily accessible in the system for further analysis.

With Holo4Labs, scientists can focus on their research, following a step-by-step process displayed on the HoloLens.

What else will change?

The future of mixed reality and its use in modern workplace is very promising. With HoloLens, industries, logistics, and medicine can already benefit from the ability to access a virtual data layer to work and collaborate.

Laboratories and pharmaceutics are next in line, as solutions like Holo4Labs will soon be available and more common.

Today represents the systematic and paperless future of LabTech. And it is one that Holo4Labs grants to the lab-based community.