
Second version of HoloLens HPU will incorporate AI coprocessor - itamarb
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/second-version-hololens-hpu-will-incorporate-ai-coprocessor-implementing-dnns/
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ratbr
Serious question: what is an AI coprocessor technically? Some machine learnt
models burned on a chip? Or some kind of a neural net with updatable weights?

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danmaz74
The AI coprocessor is probably the first processor designed directly by the
marketing department...

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gumby
Oh man, that ship has sailed!

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zitterbewegung
I used a Hololens and it was awesome (it fit over my glasses). Inference on
Hololens could make you do so much more. Maybe you could use it to take scans
of parts from a CNC or the CNC tool and create a system that could tell you if
a similar piece will fail in the future. From what I have seen compared to
Google Glass I think it could be possible for richer interactions and also it
uses both eyes. But, I haven't heard any Enterprise users use Hololens.

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Pigo
We got a couple at my company and I've built some protoypes for it, and threw
up a little blog for it. The cool thing is the HoloToolkit which seems to be
maintained by some xbox developers, and scripts all the functionality you need
to get off the ground.

The hard part has been coming up with prototypes that go beyond a cool
experience, and solve some customer's problem. It doesn't recognize what it's
looking at, as much as it's just recognizing the shape of what it's looking
at. You have to write the functionality to then determine what it is. Though
the HoloToolkit does have scripts that will recognize walls, floors, tables.
But it falls really short of the wild ideas my co-workers come up with. There
are some example projects out there that will show you how to determine faces,
which is cool. But the best ideas most people have, the beta Skype app already
knocks it out of the park.

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aantix
What is it about the beta Skype app that is so compelling?

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erikpukinskis
I haven't used it, but I feel fairly certain that the killer app for VR/AR is
going to be eye contact. Skype with eye contact would be a major leap forward.
Eye contact lets you negotiate speaking/listening handoff in a natural way,
instead of using awkward procedural norms.

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tux1968
The article mentions a demonstration of hand segmentation made at a
conference, here's a short video of it:

[https://mspoweruser.com/microsofts-next-version-hololens-
wil...](https://mspoweruser.com/microsofts-next-version-hololens-will-feature-
new-hpu-ai-coprocessor/)

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akvadrako
Any idea who makes it? It's probably close in architecture to GPUs, the kind
of thing Nvidia and AMD are positioned to capitalise on.

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restricted_ptr
They used customizable DSPs from Tensilica. I wonder if this is based on the
same technology.

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modeless
You're right, Microsoft revealed last year in a Hot Chips presentation that
HPU v1 is a Cadence Tensilica DSP with custom instructions [1]. Given that,
I'd bet that HPU v2's neural net core is Cadence's "Vision C5" [2].

[1] [http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-hololens-hpu-
arch...](http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-hololens-hpu-
architecure-28nm,32586.html)

[2] [https://www.cadence.com/content/cadence-
www/global/en_US/hom...](https://www.cadence.com/content/cadence-
www/global/en_US/home/company/newsroom/press-releases/pr/2017/cadence-unveils-
industrys-first-neural-network-dsp-ip-for-automo.html)

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0xffff2
Side note in case anyone at MS happens to read this, but the only actual
content on this page that appears above the fold for me (viewing on a Surface
Pro 4) is the headline, which is pushed nearly to the bottom of my display by
all the headers/nav/whitespace. This strikes me as remarkably bad design.

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freehunter
I don't know if it's designed to do that or not, but that's been a huge trend
for a few years now. I still have people request that I design a site like
that, where the only thing visible by default on the homepage is a 68pt logo
and on specific pages is a 68pt title. A navbar at the top and a navbar under
the logo are also requested, both navbars displaying the same options.

I don't get it either.

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ericfrederich
I went to a Microsoft store in the mall and they are showing off Oculus Rift.
They've been showing off HoloLens for a couple years now haven't they?...
still can't buy it?

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lstamour
You can buy it. You just have to bring your own software:
[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy](https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/hololens/buy)

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0xbear
I hope it also contains a decent CPU. The first version has a ridiculously
underpowered Atom with no vector capability of any kind. Not the kind of thing
you would expect in a $3000 device.

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clmckinley
I agree that you would expect more from a $3000 computer, but that is not what
hololens is. Considering all of novel sensors and capabilities with the
hololens, it is pretty amazing to me that the hololens is only $3000.

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0xbear
Have you actually used it? I have it on my desk. It's garbage. Low res, narrow
FoV display, graphics capabilities from 10 years ago. I wouldn't pay fifty
bucks for it if I was spending my own money.

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dlp211
I have used one and everything you said is valid. It is fairly low res and the
graphics are mobile quality, but that isn't what you are paying for, and
calling it garbage is pretty unfair. Show me another device that is doing AR
right now at the fidelity levels of HL. Your criticism is the equivalent of
comparing an iPhone with a full on desktop workstation. They are not trying to
solve the same problem and therefore do not need to have the same visual
fidelity.

That said, IMO, it really is prototype hardware with the intention to iterate
on it until it finds a market segment. I doubt MSFT is making any money on the
device.

Disclaimer: Work at MSFT, have nothing to do with HL.

~~~
rocky1138
> They are not trying to solve the same problem and therefore do not need to
> have the same visual fidelity.

I think they are trying to solve the same problem. I'd love a desktop AR
headset. They do need the same visual fidelity, we're just not there yet. I'm
patient :)

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markingram
For people who understand neural networks, this is HUGE! I have been dreaming
for a custom chip for neural networks for 5 years! If they pull it off and
deliver a product launch in a year or two, then they would smoke the
competition again.

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Symmetry
Google has had their TPU out for a while now. And the next generation of
NVidia GPU is supposed to have neural network accelerating hardware.

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markingram
But they don't have HoloLens ;)

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mtgx
But will it be anymore practical to use than the first version?

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tanilama
You mean a matrix multiplication processor?

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ori_b
You mean headless GPU? (Or, in some cases, DSP?)

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ramshanker
I remember HoloLens being announced to be available in "windows 10 timeframe".
Still awaiting (EDIT:) Cheaper consumer version.

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esterly
HoloLen hardware can be purchased here [https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/hololens/buy](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy)

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MichaelGG
Hardly the device for my kids to play Minecraft on like MS hyped. Starting to
feel like another Kinect - the preview movie was amazing, the actually shipped
one, meh.

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eightysixfour
Wasn't it introduced at build, the developer conference? I imagine that should
have given a good indicator as to their initial target market while use cases
are built up for production versions. The Mixed Reality headsets seem to be in
the same vain, an opportunity to start introducing that tech to developers at
a lower price point.

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dsr_
Is it time to recognize that "AI" is the meaningless buzzword of 2017?

"Nothing is cooler because it is cyber." \-- J.D. Falk, RIP.

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deelowe
How is AI meaningless? I mean, I guess the term can be seen as silly, but I
mentally map it to "statistical computing."

[edit] Since I'm getting down votes, can someone clarify? I wasn't being
contrarian with the above comment. Is my mental map of what AI means as an
industry term incorrect?

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yequalsx
Any term/phrase can be rendered meaningless by overuse and misuse. The person
you are responding to isn't claiming AI, as it actually is and what it
actually means, is meaningless. They are claiming that "AI" the phrase is
becoming meaningless.

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deelowe
Understood and my point was that anytime I see AI used in articles these days,
they seem to be referring to statistical computing solutions. I know AI can
also refer to rule based algorithms, but I rarely see it applied in those
contexts these days.

Put another way, does anyone read the above statement and think "MS is
developing a chip to accelerate A*?"

