The writer is the CEO of Anyverse, a lecturer and an international expert on innovation and technology
Not long ago we celebrated a year The transformation of the metaverse from a concept that only “nerds” of science fiction, gaming and 3D worlds knew, to a concept that almost everyone knows and even formed a position towards. Although things are not progressing at the speed that was depicted from the appearances of Facebook (meta) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others who spoke on the subject, and it is clear that there are still technological barriers. The global economy is not in peak condition either, but I remain very optimistic about this revolution, and especially about the great value it will bring to the world .
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Not for nothing, giant companies such as McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte and others estimate that this is a market that by 2030 will be worth trillions of dollars. How many trillions? It depends on who you ask, but it ranges from 4-5 to 20 trillion. In short, it’s huge. Within all this space, this time we will concentrate on one front: the business front of B2B (business to business).
If on the consumer side we have many more barriers and more challenges to crack (it will probably take 4-5 years before VR will be something common, and wearable AR in a sensible way and at a reasonable price will be applicable), then on the side of business solutions we are already in a different reality today . In fact, you can say that the business metaverse is already here.
Real time planning
The Metaverse, let’s remember, is the new version of the Internet: more open, more user-oriented, and above all much more immersive. Meaning, the users will feel part of the internet experience they are participating in thanks to technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and other technologies.
In the world of business – whether it is in the world of industrial planning, entertainment and leisure or manufacturing – it means a revolution, no less. The ability to produce virtual worlds as a kind of “playground” for any project or scenario is invaluable.
Take for example the production processes: until today, the way factories were run was relatively serial. If a company wanted to build a new factory, add a machine to an existing factory and change a production line, the engineers had to design what they thought was right, the company had to actually manufacture or purchase the things, then place them in the factory and hope that all the calculations and estimates were correct (or optimal) and maybe Even learning about some of the problems or derivatives of the move in retrospect and after the fact.
Today, on the other hand, it is relatively easy to establish a complete replica of the factory, what is known as a “digital twin”, which will present in a computerized 3D environment (on a computer, smartphone or even in VR) the real factory, including the machines that move in it, the correct distances, The weights of all the relevant equipment and every other physical element you can think of.
That digital twin is updated in real time from the data in the field, and faithfully represents the “real” plant at any point in time. Now, let’s say you want to test changes in the production line. Instead of planning, building or purchasing and then hoping for the best, you can now check all the options, make assessments and run scenarios and simulations on the digital twin. Not only will he physically show you what the new machine will look like in the factory, he will also run simulations on its effectiveness, and find out what effect the addition of the machine has on the traffic in the factory, the air or whatever you want.
As Richard Criss, vice president at Nvidia worldwide and who is responsible for the company’s Omniverse platform, which specializes in producing digital twins for a very wide range of business cases, told me recently: “In 5-10 years we won’t understand how we once planned without a twin Digital in every field you can think of, like today we don’t understand how we used to live without the internet.” I totally agree with this statement.
Who connects to the concept?
It doesn’t end, of course, with just a digital match to the factory. It is equally possible to create a digital twin for an entire city. how? The entire city is modeled in software such as Omniverse, the required data is added using its tools, and thus any substantial change that occurs in the real city will also be updated in the digital twin (manually, through cameras or satellite images, etc.). That way, the next time we want to add a roundabout or move a traffic light, we can quickly set them up in the digital twin, and run simulations that will test what will work better, what the effect of each alternative is and what the derivatives of the move are.
Sound like science fiction? It already exists. And wait, we’ve only just begun. Today most of us are connected 24/7 to some of the most advanced medical devices in the history of mankind: smart watches, smart rings, smart bands and so on. These devices know how to check heart rate, EKG, blood oxygen, sleep quality or sugar.
Think of a scenario where each and every one of us will have a digital twin that will sit on some platform of our health insurance, and every time we want to test a new treatment, a new drug or a new diet, we can run a simulation on the body of this twin and get the effects and derivatives – what it did to the blood tests , what it did to the complexion, weight or any parameter you can think of.
On the other hand, let’s say you are debating different scripts for advertisements or content that you produce. Now you can produce a visualization on a relatively low budget and easily, with the help of engines like Unreal Engine or Unity, and check with your target audience if they even connect to the concept. That is, the digital twin can also be a one-time thing, which only takes advantage of the graphic capabilities and the very high realism of the existing tools, and not necessarily a “breathing” physical three-dimensional model that is continuously updated in the face of changes in reality.
Practice cleaning
As mentioned, in contrast to the consumer worlds that are still waiting for the big breakthrough of the Metaverse (which will come), the business solution axis already has many options today. Companies like Nvidia, AWS, Siemens and others offer advanced solutions that serve giants like BMW, Ericsson or iRobot, and many more.
At iRobot, for example, they created hundreds of virtual houses according to known physics and conventional design (on the basis of data collected from the devices that travel through our homes). Every time they upgrade the software, they don’t immediately “push” it to all the devices, but first embed the update in virtual robots that patrol and work in the virtual homes, and only after they make sure that the update works properly and meets the goals set for it, does the update really go down to the devices in the homes of all of us.
So the next time you plan a store, visitor center, new factory, logistics warehouse or even a fashion show, event or advertisement – check the option of using a digital twin (obviously this is more relevant as the physical factor is valuable, and is expected to be with you for a relatively long time long). Not only will it blow your mind, it will also allow flexibility and better decision-making.