Stryker modernizes OR configuration with HoloLens

February 21, 2017 – Microsoft is talking for the first time today about a new customer of its HoloLens augmented reality headset: publicly traded medical device company Stryker. Stryker sells forceps, drills, nasal dressings, and hip replacement systems, but it also sells equipment for operating rooms. The HoloLens is a tool that Stryker can use to help hospital employees figure out the best arrangements for their operating rooms.This is important because multiple kinds of medical practitioners typically share each operating room, and finding something that’s suitable for everyone involved can be time-consuming.

“Using HoloLens and Stryker’s new By Design solution, hospital stakeholders are now able to envision the ideal operating room configuration with the power of holograms and the benefit of mixed reality,” HoloLens and Windows Experiences general manager Lorraine Bardeen wrote in a blog post. “Instead of needing all of the people from each surgical discipline, all the physical equipment required across all medical disciplines, all in one room at the same time, Stryker is now able to modify and build different operating room scenarios with holograms. No more time-consuming sessions where everyone needs to be physically present and no more need to move around heavy and expensive equipment to get a sense for how everything all fits together.”

This isn’t the first health care customer for HoloLens, which was first unveiled two years ago. CAE, Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland Clinic have previously been public about their use of the device, whose developer edition costs $3,000. Outside of health care, other customers include Lowe’s, ThyssenKrupp, and Volvo.

NEXT: Check out how Case Western Reserve University is using HoloLens and MRIs to transform clinical education.