Software King of the World, Microsoft, is cooking up Android-based AI agent devices because, apparently, Windows is not invited to its next hardware punt.
A team inside Microsoft has been building a platform for devices that run AI agents rather than old-school apps. Dubbed Project Solara, it is based on Android rather than Windows and already has two working hardware designs.
Vole sees Solara as a way for AI to open new computing scenarios by using agents to bypass the limits of traditional software. The outfit unveiled Solara at its Build conference in San Francisco, describing it as a platform stretching from chip to cloud.
GeekWire was shown the project during a briefing in Redmond, including demos of the first two concept devices based on Solara.
The first is a desktop hub that sits beside a PC, responds to voice commands, signs users in with facial recognition and surfaces the day’s urgent bits. With a monitor attached, the hub becomes a full Windows machine running in the cloud.
The second device is a wearable badge that rethinks the standard employee ID card. A fingerprint button wakes an agent with one press, a tap records and transcribes a conversation and a built-in camera lets the agent act on what the user sees.
Microsoft says it will not ship the devices itself. Instead, it wants hardware makers and industry partners to turn the reference designs into their own kit.
In one demo, the badge ran agents built for a healthcare worker. It could scan a patient’s QR code, record and transcribe a visit, log vitals and start a prescription. In another version, the badge’s camera scanned a brainstorming board for an office revamp and suggested adding plants.
The two devices are only the start. Microsoft reckons the bigger prize is handling tasks where a PC or phone is awkward, slow or just in the way. Companies including AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Health, Levi’s and Target are expected to begin pilots in the coming months.
The operating system is the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform, or MDEP, an enterprise version of Android built for devices such as Teams meeting-room hardware. Microsoft says it picked MDEP over Windows, so Solara can run on smaller, lower-power devices while keeping the management toys IT departments demand.
That means patching, over-the-air updates, device integrity, Microsoft Defender, Intune and Entra ID sign-in.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella encouraged the team to show Solara at Build earlier than the company would normally show unfinished work.
Qualcomm and MediaTek are the first chip partners, which means Microsoft is sensibly using parts already sitting on the shelf rather than inventing another bespoke hardware headache. The badge runs on a new Qualcomm wearable chip; the desk hub runs on MediaTek IoT silicon.
