The IR emitted is a structured laser light at IR frequencies.<p>They&#x27;re already using &quot;lasers&quot;. The problem with using any sort of structured light is that your frequency can&#x27;t be in the same band of any sort of flood lights (sunlight, ballasts, IR camera lights). It&#x27;s also why X-Rays work well: it&#x27;s a structured light (kind of) and can be used because we won&#x27;t have a flood of XRays everywhere.<p>The problem isn&#x27;t with &quot;IR&quot;: they should not be using a structured light solution. It&#x27;s just not durable enough for 3d scanning applications. It&#x27;s also why I&#x27;ve worked on a SLAM-like 3d scanner. Understanding geometry, corners, edges, and gradients are much more versatile in scanning, because it is <i>passive</i>. Our very eyes don&#x27;t send out beams of light, and yet we manage a very accurate SLAM-like map inside our own heads.<p>The problem with the Hololens is that until they switch to a vision-only system, they&#x27;re going to be plagued with problems regarding IR sources (or whatever freq they choose).<p>Source: me (3Dollar scanner, amateur radio operator, OpenCV reprap implementer)