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Barcelona, Mobile World Congress. The session “Paving the Way for the Industrial Metaverse” illustrated the burgeoning potential of this transformative technology in industrial settings.
Experts from leading companies such as Dassault Systèmes, NVIDIA, Nokia, and Meta convened to discuss the concept, use cases, and technological foundation required to realize this industrial revolution.
What is the Industrial Metaverse?
The industrial metaverse hinges on the creation of virtual twins – digital representations of physical objects, processes, or even entire cities. These virtual environments enable businesses to:
- Simulate and test new designs: Products can be comprehensively evaluated in a virtual space before physical prototypes are built, minimizing waste and development time.
- Facilitate collaboration: Designers, engineers, and other stakeholders across locations can collaborate seamlessly within the metaverse, fostering innovation and problem-solving.
- Enhance training: Employees can be trained in immersive virtual environments, replicating real-world scenarios like firefighting or operating machinery, improving safety and knowledge retention.
“The metaverse is the natural evolution of how we’re all going to connect… The industrial metaverse is the natural evolution of a consumer space. It would make absolutely no sense not to expand to the industry,” said Ingrid Cotoros, VP of Technology Engineering for Devices (TED) at Meta.
Key use cases
- Industrial Design: Soma Velayutham of Nvidia emphasizes the metaverse’s ability to optimize design processes. Virtual prototyping reduces physical waste and streamlines manufacturing workflows.
- AI Training: The metaverse can serve as a training ground for AI models, particularly in robotics and autonomous vehicles. Complex situations can be simulated repeatedly within the virtual world, drastically reducing real-world training time.
- Predictive Maintenance: Digital twins can be used to monitor the health of physical equipment, enabling preventative maintenance and reducing downtime.
- Disaster Preparedness: Anissa Bellini of Dassault Systèmes, mentions the application of virtual twins in simulating potential disasters like floods, allowing for better preparation and response strategies.
“We see two major use cases; one is in industrial design… You remove a lot of waste… The second one we see is actually AI. The metaverse because it represents the physical world. AI can train within the metaverse,” said Soma Velayutham, Global Industry Business Development Lead for Telecoms, NVIDIA.
“In Japan, we were able to model an entire city. Based on the ground, the level of the buildings, and all the weather conditions, we can forecast where flooding could happen, and how we can help the inhabitants escape from that,” said Anissa Bellini, Head of Strategy, Manufacturing Industries, Dassault Systèmes.
Collaboration and open standards
While the industrial metaverse’s potential is vast, Nokia’s Jane Rygaard highlights the significance of collaboration across industries. Technological expertise must be coupled with industry-specific knowledge to ensure effective implementation. Like NVIDIA’s Open USD, open data standards are vital for facilitating seamless collaboration between various software applications within the metaverse.
“The industrial metaverse is how we have a digital representation of the physical world, but at the same time, not only a representation but how we can impact back in the physical world,” said Jane Rygaard, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Nokia.
5G networks and beyond
The discussion acknowledged the current capabilities of existing technologies like 5G. However, Jane Rygaard emphasizes the need for further exploration of edge computing and network optimization to handle the demands of the industrial metaverse. While 6G might offer future solutions for increased bandwidth, leveraging existing infrastructure efficiently is crucial in the present.
“We need to raise computing, we need to have some AI, and we need to make sure that we have some networking. Can one company do it all, or is it better to go together? …. I think from a pure traffic perspective, we probably do end up saying that we need to have more capabilities than we do today, and then I will just say we definitely need to have more automation. And with that, we can only have to do it with AI,” highlighted Rygaard.
Security concerns and the role of AI
As Ingrid Cotoros of Meta points out, robust security measures are fundamental for ensuring the success of the industrial metaverse. We need to prioritize data security and user privacy within this digital ecosystem. Furthermore, AI integration is a powerful tool for streamlining processes, accelerating problem-solving, and extracting valuable insights from the vast data generated within the metaverse.
“AI and metaverse come together. AI comes naturally in it to bring efficiency in the sense of finding solutions to problems faster by learning from a lot of the data that exists there and getting to the solutions faster,” argued Cotoros.
A promising future
The industrial metaverse presents a paradigm shift for industrial processes. By harnessing the power of digital twins, immersive collaboration, and AI, businesses can optimize operations, enhance training, and unlock new avenues for innovation. While technological advancements like 6G and further research on network optimization are anticipated, the groundwork for this industrial revolution can be laid using existing technologies and fostering collaborative efforts across various stakeholders.
The industrial metaverse holds immense potential to transform numerous industries. As the technology matures and industry collaboration strengthens, we can expect a significant increase in efficiency, sustainability, and the creation of novel solutions across various industrial domains.
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