Intel introduces a standalone wireless VR headset called Project Alloy

Intel just took a big leap into virtual reality.

CEO Brian Krzanich showed off a new standalone virtual reality headset during the company's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco on Tuesday. The headset is wireless and doesn't require a PC to use.

Powered by Intel's RealSense cameras and other sensors, Krzanich touted Project Alloy's ability to recognize its surrounding environment without external sensors or controllers. This also enables the system to help the wearer avoid collisions with real-world objects.

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Project Alloy also allows the wearer to use their hands in virtual reality without a separate controller. During an onstage demo at IDF Tuesday, Intel showed off the ability to bring real-world objects into virtual reality and interact with them using just your hands.

Though Krzanich compared the headset to other virtual reality platforms, he was careful to point out that Intel views the effort as a way to enable "merged reality."

"Merged reality delivers virtual-world experiences more dynamically and naturally than ever before — and makes experiences impossible in the real world now possible," Krzanich wrote in a post on Medium outlining his vision for VR.

"Merged reality reduces the need for elaborate and costly sets of external sensors that translate real-world environments into digital representations."

If that description of combining virtual reality experiences with the real world sounds a bit like Microsoft's vision for HoloLens, that's because it is. The Intel CEO also announced a new partnership with Microsoft on mixed reality. The two companies are working together to create a new mixed reality specification for Windows Holographic, Microsoft's augmented reality platform. The two companies' partnership will allow Project Alloy to run Windows Holographic once it's out.

Intel didn't provide specifics about the availability of Project Alloy but says it plans to open up Alloy to developers and other partners in 2017.

In addition to the headset, Intel also plans to open a production studio in Los Angeles to create 360-degree and VR content.