- Microsoft reveals Project Solara proof of concept for new AI devices
- Wearable devices enable AI agents to adapt to new form factors and use cases
- Pilot projects are underway, but wider launches are still some way off
Microsoft has revealed Project Solara, its attempt to liberate your AI agents from the PC or smartphone and unleash them around the world.
Announced at Microsoft Build 2026, the new service, described as “a chip-to-cloud platform…a turnkey solution for creating unique agent-centric devices,” aims to offer hardware makers a low-cost way to make AI agents more portable and open them up to more use cases.
The company showed two concept devices at Build: one resembling a mobile speaker for your desktop or home office, and a more portable option resembling a desk lanyard.
Solara Project
“When we think of a computer, we tend to imagine something familiar: a laptop, a phone, maybe a tablet,” wrote Steven Bathiche, CVP & Technical Fellow, Applied Sciences Group, Microsoft, in a blog post announcing the news, “But computing has never really stopped. It continues to move closer to us, to work, to the moment where it can deliver the most value.”
“Mainframe computers didn’t disappear with the advent of PCs. PCs didn’t disappear with the advent of phones. Phones didn’t disappear with the advent of watches. Each new form became more specialized, closer to you, closer to the solution you need. Each found a new place in our lives because it was better suited to a specific context, a specific task, or a specific moment. So what’s next?”
In his presentation, which was part of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech at the event, the devices, built using Qualcomm and MediaTek hardware, were touted as benefitting from a wide range of use cases.
For the card-based device, which contained a camera and fingerprint scanner, we saw a healthcare professional scan to quickly access information about a patient, and a warehouse worker use their device to send tracking information on a package, all without needing to go through multi-step processes that take time and effort.
The desktop concept, immediately reminiscent of the Amazon Echo Show, was presented in a more professional setting, unlocking via facial recognition and providing access to AI agents or a user’s Windows files and calendar.
The Solara project is still in the concept stage, but the company hopes it will lead to further development, revealing that it has signed pilot projects with AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Healthcare and Target.
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