HoloKit X

Overview

HoloKit is an award-winning open-source Mixed Reality (MR) toolkit that transforms your smartphone into an affordable optical see-through augmented reality headset designed for spatial computing enthusiasts. It aims to serve as the Mixed Reality equivalent of Arduino, offering a cost-effective alternative to feature-rich but expensive options like Vision Pro and HoloLens. HoloKit X is an optical see-through mixed reality headset launched in 2022. It has received the Red Dot Design Award and the iF Design Award, representing a high-quality enhancement from our original concept, HoloKit 1 — a cardboard prototype introduced in 2017.

This toolkit is ideal for hackers, designers, and artists interested in hands-on spatial computing projects, such as combining the Internet of Things with mixed reality, thanks to its open-source nature. It's also beneficial for students learning mixed reality development on a budget, as well as for researchers who wish to customize their setup and fully utilize Apple's ARKit for immersive, multiplayer experiences. Furthermore, museums and exhibitions can use HoloKit to offer mixed reality experiences to large audiences, taking advantage of its affordability and adaptability.

HoloKit was created by Botao Amber Hu and is currently maintained as an open-source project by Reality Design Lab.

Publications

Botao Amber Hu*, Yuchen Zhang, Yilan Elan Tao, and Tongzhou Yu. 2024. "HoloKit: Demonstrating an Open-Source Smartphone-Based Mixed Reality Headset for Mixed Reality Design Education". In Adjunct Proceedings of the 2024 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing & the 2024 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing (UbiComp/ISWC '24 Adjunct). Demo. 🏆 Best Demo Award. [→]

Exhibitions

ISWC 2024 Demonstration. "HoloKit X". Melbourne, Australia.

Awards

A’Design Award. "HoloKit X", Silver in Wearable Technologies Design

iF Design Award. "HoloKit X", Winner in Product/Gaming Hardware/VR/AR

Red Dot Design Award. "HoloKit X", Winner of Product Design

Core77 Design Awards. "HoloKit X", Notable in Consumer Technology

Core77 Design Awards. "HoloKit X", Runner up in Emerging Technology

Webby Awards. "HoloKit X", Nominee in Technical Achievement / Metaverse, Immersive & Virtual

SXSW Award. "HoloKit X", Nominee in Innovative Design

Media and Talks

CNET: HoloKit X Showed Me How an iPhone Can Turn Into an AR Headset for $129 [→]

WIRED: The HoloKit X Headset Advances Hands-Free AR on iPhones [→]

ZDNET: This remarkable iPhone-powered headset gave me a glimpse into Apple's AR future [→]

Stuff: HoloKit X turns your iPhone into a $129 AR headset [→]

@inproceedings{10.1145/3675094.3677549,author = {Hu, Botao Amber and Zhang, Yuchen and Tao, Yilan Elan and Yu, Tongzhou},title = {HoloKit: Demonstrating an Open-Source Smartphone-Based Mixed Reality Headset for Mixed Reality Design Education},year = {2024},isbn = {9798400710582},publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},address = {New York, NY, USA},url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3675094.3677549},doi = {10.1145/3675094.3677549},abstract = {As Mixed Reality (MR) becomes increasingly prevalent, the rising interest of students in studying MR design has led to a demand for Mixed Reality Design Education (MRDE). However, current see-through MR platforms like Vision Pro and HoloLens face educational and technological challenges: their high cost can prevent student access, and their content design, development, and authoring processes, usually tailored for professional and commercial use, can require advanced skills and be time-consuming. This discourages students from experimenting with MR designs, thus limiting their creativity and motivation to showcase their projects. To address these challenges, we introduce HoloKit, an open-source MR headset equipped with a suite of authoring toolkits. HoloKit transforms a regular smartphone into an affordable yet high-quality immersive MR experience. Targeted at MR design educators, students, and hobbyists, HoloKit is positioned as the MR equivalent of Arduino. It echoes Arduino's approach to hardware hacking and the DIY culture, offering a cost-effective alternative to more expensive MR systems. Its design philosophy emphasizes affordability, agility, and extensibility, encouraging an open-source community of creators. In this demonstration, we showcase three case studies from integrating HoloKit into real MR design classrooms and research projects. This highlights HoloKit's unique approach and effectiveness for MRDE.},booktitle = {Companion of the 2024 on ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing},pages = {205–209},numpages = {5},keywords = {mixed reality design education, open-source mixed reality headset, spatial computing education},location = {Melbourne VIC, Australia},series = {UbiComp '24}}