Microsoft Shows AI Wearable Badge, Desktop Device Concepts
Microsoft’s Project Solara prototypes are designed to give workers access to AI agents outside traditional PCs.
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Microsoft Corp. showcased two experimental AI device concepts at its Build 2026 developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, including a desktop device and a wearable badge designed to give workers access to AI agents outside traditional PCs.
The prototypes are part of Project Solara, a platform Microsoft describes as a shift from apps to agents, where AI systems can work across tools, workflows and devices rather than inside a single application.
Microsoft said the platform is being designed around enterprise manageability, identity, security, privacy and user control.
The concept devices include a stationary desktop unit and a portable or wearable device. Microsoft said both are multimodal, with support for glanceable access, voice, vision and contextual interaction with agents.
The devices are about the size of a smart speaker and a keycard badge, and are based on chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Instead of running traditional apps, the devices are designed to host AI agents that connect to cloud systems to perform specific tasks, such as documenting a medical visit.
Project Solara is still early-stage. Microsoft said the concept designs are meant to test and pilot the platform, not necessarily to define final commercial products.
The company said it will begin private pilots in the coming months with companies including AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Health, Levi’s and Target.
Microsoft said the devices are intended to support specialized workplace scenarios across healthcare, retail, hospitality, financial services, legal, industrial and field-service settings. The platform is also designed to allow organizations to use Microsoft agents or bring their own.
The effort marks Microsoft’s latest attempt to extend computing beyond the PC as AI changes how workers interact with software.
Microsoft previously developed HoloLens, its mixed-reality headset, but said in 2024 that it would stop producing the device after nearly a decade.
Project Solara points to a different hardware direction: smaller, agent-first devices built around workplace tasks rather than immersive computing.
