The industrial metaverse is viewed as the natural evolution of the consumer metaverse, and holds immense potential to revolutionise the manufacturing industry. A panel at the recent Mobile World Congress, hosted in Barcelona, highlighted the ongoing utilisation of the industrial metaverse across various sectors, emphasising the critical need for collaboration, technology integration, and interoperability in its development.
Anissa Bellini from Dassault Systèmes described the Metaverse as a "virtual personal universe," emphasising the convergence of a visual representation with a physical object. Jane Rygaard of Nokia stressed the importance of a digital representation impacting the physical world, underlining the need for action to complement mere visualisation.
Ingrid Cotorus from Meta offered an insider's perspective, characterising the metaverse as the natural progression of how individuals connect to the next internet. Soma Velayatham of Nvidia clarified distinctions between the metaverse, simulation, and digital twins, defining the metaverse as a fully physical and real-time representation of the world.
The panel transitioned to discussing use cases for the industrial metaverse, identifying industrial design and AI training as key examples. Velayatham highlighted how metaverse-based design reduces waste in processes like car manufacturing, while AI can undergo efficient training within the metaverse. Cotorus emphasized the metaverse's role in training and education, citing a collaboration with the California Fire Department for firefighting simulations.
Bellini disclosed Dassault's initiative to build personalised digital twins of organs, particularly focusing on creating a unique virtual twin of an individual's heart for predictive analysis. Rygaard underscored the need for a collaborative approach, combining technology stacks like computing, AI, networking, and security with industry insights to ensure practical applications in fields such as firefighting and manufacturing. The experts emphasized the necessity for partnerships to harness collective strengths and avoid developing technology in isolation.