Press Release
Holokit X Mixed Reality Headset For Phones by Holo Interactive and Second White Wins the Silver A' Design Award in Wearable Technologies Design
Holo Interactive and Second White of HoloKit X honored for wearable technologies design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 15, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Wearable Technologies Design category for Holokit X Mixed Reality Headset For Phones by Holo Interactive and Second White of HoloKit X, designed for Holo Interactive. The result belongs to the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About Holokit X Mixed Reality Headset For Phones
Holokit X is a mixed reality headset for smartphones. A periscope structure turns an iPhone into a stereoscopic optical see-through mixed reality device. Holokit X uses the phone hardware and software, including the lidar sensor, spatial audio and motion tracking, so virtual content appears within the real room. The body is made of reinforced ABS with a transparent double injection part. The weight rests mainly on a thick forehead pad, and an elastic headband holds the headset in place during movement. Several people in the same space can share one session.
About Holo Interactive and Second White
Botao Amber Hu is a researcher, designer, and creative technologist. He founded and leads Reality Design Lab, an interdisciplinary research and design lab that focuses on the intersection of philosophy of technology, speculative design, spatial computing, and programmable cryptography. He also serves as a visiting lecturer teaching "Mixed Reality Design" at the China Academy of Art. His primary focus is on developing intercorporeal interactions within co-located mixed reality, advancing democratized education of mixed reality design, and exploring blockchain as a substrate for artificial life.
About HoloKit X
- Holo Interactive is an interdisciplinary research and design lab focused on the intersection of spatial computing and programmable cryptography. Led by Botao Amber Hu, this lab prioritizes the development of embodied interactions within mixed reality an
Award Record
With this recognition, Holo Interactive and Second White of HoloKit X is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Wearable Technologies Design Award
The A' Wearable Technology Design Award is an international competition recognizing good wearable technology designs by leading brands and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to wearable technology designers, wearable technology brands, wearable technology manufacturers and fashion designers from all countries. Entries typically include smartwatches, fitness trackers, VR headsets, AR glasses, medical devices and smart jewelry. Awarded wearable technology designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/wearable-technology
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/159914
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/159914
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!159914
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/353894
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://holokit.io
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Holokit X Mixed Reality Headset For Phones
- Function
- Mixed Reality Headset For Phones
- Category
- Wearable Technologies Design
- Discipline
- Product Design
- Industry
- Electronics & Appliances and Fashion
- Colors
- Silver, Gainsboro, Dark Gray, Light Gray and Light Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Holo Interactive
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Holo Interactive and Second White
- Country
- United States of America
- Brand
- HoloKit X
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #159914
Credits
- Team
- Botao Amber Hu, Xiuhua Tang, Yilan Tao; and Dukkeun An, Xinyi Qiu, Sora Lee
- Image Credits
- Holo Interactive, perspective of HoloKit X, 2022.; Holo Interactive, back view of HoloKit X, 2022.; Photographer Second White, Close-up photo, 2012.; Holo Interactive, optical diagram of HoloKit X, 2022.; Photographer Second White, a man wearing the HoloKit X headset, 2022.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Holo Interactive, a technology company founded by Botao Amber Hu, seeks to revolutionize the way people interact with augmented reality (AR) through its flagship product, HoloKit X. The device, developed in collaboration with Second White, a design studio based in Korea, is a well-designed and comfortable iPhone accessory that introduces Stereoscopic augmented reality at an affordable price point. The company aims to bring the Realverse, a mixed reality incorporating multiple digital layers called "realities"; built on top of the real world, to everyone, by everyone.
- Inspiration
- HoloKit X offers an affordable, iPhone-based stereoscopic optical see-through Mixed Reality solution functionally equivalent to much more expensive products like HoloLens. By utilizing the iPhone's hardware and software, we provide a cost-effective alternative to expensive MR headsets, while keeping most of the AR functions including 6 degrees of freedom tracking, environmental perception, spatial audio, and AI-powered hand tracking and human objection detection. Priced at just $129, HoloKit X aims to lower the barrier for the public to experience mixed reality for the first time, bringing the shared dream of AR co-located one step closer to reality.
- Research
- Type of Research: The type of research conducted for HoloKit X is a combination of user-centered design research and technological innovation research. It focuses on understanding user needs, exploring new possibilities in mixed reality (MR), and developing a product that meets those needs. Research Objectives: The research objectives for HoloKit X can be summarized as follows: Enhancing MR creative project execution, particularly in multiplayer scenarios. Revolutionizing human-computer interaction and content creation in MR. Democratizing mixed reality by fostering an open-source community. Promoting face-to-face multiplayer AR experiences to facilitate human connection and communication.
- Challenge
- During the development, realization, and research of the HoloKit X project, there were key challenges in game design and co-located mixed reality technical implementation. These challenges were addressed through the insights provided in the papers "MOFA: Exploring Asymmetric Mixed Reality Design Strategy for Co-located Multiplayer Between Handheld and Head-mounted Augmented Reality" and "InstantCopresence: A Spatial Anchor Sharing Methodology for Co-located Multiplayer Headheld and Headworn AR." In terms of game design, the MOFA paper proposed a design strategy to distinguish the roles of different players based on the affordances, limitations, and capabilities of handheld augmented reality...
- Realization and Technology
- Technical implementation: innovative design and development. HoloKit uses a periscope structure to transform an iPhone into an MR headset (United States Patent No.: US 11,709,360B2). It presents a 60-degree FOV, and leverages all iPhone's MR capabilities including the lidar sensor, the PHASE system, and the ARKit. The engineers developed a reality-sharing technology (patent application number 18/498,637) based on multiple connectivity to enable a smooth co-located MR experience. The paper regarding this implementation was accepted by IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality 2023 (10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct60411.2023.00165).
- Operation and Interaction
- HoloKit X makes it simple to access an immersive MR experience. All you have to do is download the HoloKit app from the app store, open it, place your iPhone into the HoloKit X device, and you're ready to go. The app's design and layout align well with the familiar conventions of the iOS platform. To join the multiplayer game session, simply open the HoloKit app on both phones and let one phone scan the QR code on the other phone in the app, no Wi-Fi or Cellular connection is needed. Wear the HoloKit X is simple, turn on the stereoscopic mode on the phone, and insert it into the HoloKit X, and tie the security strap.
- Project Duration and Location
- 3 years, New York, US, Seoul, Korea, and Shenzhen, China
- Specifications
- Dimension of HoloKit X without the headband: Height: 100 mm (3.93 in) x Width: 133 mm (5.23 in) x Depth: 140 mm (5.51 in); Weight: 215 grams (7.6 oz); Dimension of the Box: Height: 118 mm (4.64 in) x Width: 167 mm (6.57 in) x Depth: 167 mm (6.57 in); Weight: 355 grams (12.5 oz);
- Keywords
- mixed reality, game, multiplayer, iphone, affordable
