Industrial Metaverse: Is It the Next Big Thing?
An overview of the industrial metaverse
The notion of the man-machine relationship is getting adopted by an increasing number of industrial powerhouses. It has also opened avenues for Industry 5.0, emphasising human-centric sustainability, growth and flexibility.
Given that the metaverse is based on real-time 3D content, virtual and augmented reality allows people to experience this 3D content much like real life. It builds a virtual world that charts and intermingles with the real industrial economy. It creates an intelligent holographic manufacturing and economic ecosystem, which manages the end-to-end life cycle of industrial products and allows enterprises, partners and consumers to join on that platform.
Many industrial firms are experimenting and trying to leverage Industrial Metaverse to bundle all the company's V.R. and A.R. applications in one centralised location and to make these applications visible and accessible to employees. If put to proper use, the Industrial Metaverse can accelerate work processes and generate higher and more precise quality results while simultaneously reducing workforce use, thereby rationalising costs.
The critical success factor for the Industrial Metaverse's uptake is the ability to scale the usage of V.R. and A.R. throughout the organisation and beyond. Entire work processes and procedures, such as 3D design or training, can only be moved to the Industrial Metaverse if it's all-pervasive and available throughout the company. The Industrial Metaverse gives employees constant access to X.R. applications – regardless of the locally available hardware. At the same time, it provides all the interfaces needed for seamless changes and movements between applications.
The Industrial Metaverse thus combines the benefits of X.R. streaming with the management capabilities of a fully-grown Metaverse ecosystem. As a result, companies can use the Industrial Metaverse to control and scale their V.R. and A.R. content, thereby ensuring the viability of their digital future. Just like Web 3.0, the Industrial Metaverse provides a unique combination of decentralised management while at the same time giving the benefits of a central platform, such as security, ease of use and accessibility. The set of technologies used in the Industrial Metaverse, often referred to as the 'Meta-X' technological suite, includes Digital Twin, AIoT, Blockchain/NFTs, Mixed Reality, Compute Engine and Computer Graphics.
Neal Stephenson created the term "Metaverse" in 1992, and it is currently employed as a mainstream technology in almost every industry.
Use cases of the industrial metaverse
The use cases of the industrial metaverse are limited. However, they are gradually getting traction. The conjunction of digital twins and metaverse platforms is expected to benefit different industries through prediction, monitoring, tracking, resource management and allocation, optimisation, and quality control. This has significant potential across multiple sectors, including manufacturing, mobility, mining, agriculture, design and production, retail and e-commerce, IIoT etc.
The next logical step in amalgamating the metaverse and digital twin platforms is to bring in more advanced tools and techniques. It will serve the purpose of generating insights, data generation and visualisation, and predictive behaviour. This includes 3D vision cameras, 4K colour cameras, object cameras, stereo depth cameras, and 3D data generators in real-time; high-speed computing platforms and data tool kits; control management systems for industrial robotic equipment; blockchain, ML/AI platforms.
Metaverse, as the next stage of the internet and social media, provides many economic prospects to businesses all over the globe.
The metaverse is where you can find the hybrid world and the digital realm coexist.
Final word: Getting ready for the future
The writing has been on the wall for many years. The blurring lines between physical and digital interactions lend themselves to supporting the idea of a metaverse. Large-scale 5G network deployments globally will provide the capability to support devices and ensure low-latency, high-bandwidth immersive experiences. The future of connectivity and 5G will play an extremely critical role in the large-scale adoption of the industrial metaverse.
Having said that, as with adopting any new and disruptive technology, organisations considering stepping into the industrial metaverse will face hurdles along the path. Accepting virtual inputs from metaverse users, ecosystem participants, and potential clients will take much work. Overcoming this "mental digital gap" must be proactively addressed when organisations embark on the industrial metaverse journey and its potential benefits for the business and different partners across the value chain.
The potential benefits are many. However, firms and players across the value chain must step forward to create new services and solutions that can be utilised in the metaverse environment. If such efforts are successful, the Industrial metaverse could become a pillar of sustainable manufacturing and company journeys to the "Net Zero" goal!
About the Author
Gaurav is a Partner and Global Head (Growth Analytics/KaaS) at Frost & Sullivan and has had 22+ years of consulting and research experience with clients across sectors. He has worked on cutting-edge technologies and disruptive business models such as Web3, NFTs, Blockchain, Crypto, Metaverse, Applied AI, Cloud & Edge Computing, Immersive Reality, Cybersecurity, AR/VR, ML, 5G/6G, ESG and more. He is also very passionate about building new businesses with a strong focus on accelerating growth.
