According to professional organizations, as the metaverse evolves towards a hybrid virtual-real model, it will gradually form a "dual-center ecosystem," including an industrial metaverse focused on improving the production efficiency of the material world, and a consumer metaverse focused on enriching the individual's spiritual world. Among these, the industrial metaverse, as a crucial component of the industrial metaverse, is becoming a hot topic for exploration and practice driven by the demands of industrial digital transformation.
What is the industrial metaverse? How does the industrial metaverse empower the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry?
01 What is the Industrial Metaverse?
The Industrial Metaverse is a new type of infrastructure, application model, and industrial ecosystem that deeply integrates metaverse-related technologies such as XR, AI, IoT, cloud computing, and digital twins with the real industrial economy. By linking the virtual space and the real world, the Industrial Metaverse can build a brand-new manufacturing and service system covering the entire industrial chain and value chain, thereby reducing costs, improving production efficiency, and achieving high-quality industrial development.
So, what are the differences between the Industrial Metaverse and concepts like the Industrial Internet and digital twins, all of which aim to empower industrial digital transformation?
Compared to the Industrial Internet, the Industrial Metaverse can be understood as its advanced and upgraded version. From an application perspective, the Industrial Internet emphasizes the networking of industrial systems with other physical hardware, including small networks formed by a machine tool and its tooling units, clamping units, etc., large networks formed by multiple machine tools or even the entire production line, and even comprehensive connections across the entire workshop and the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. The Industrial Metaverse, on the other hand, builds upon this foundation, further strengthening the linkage between the physical and virtual worlds, ultimately forming a new form of the Internet that is fully immersive, comprehensive in elements, and offers a complete experience.
Compared to digital twins, the concept of the industrial metaverse has a broader scope, with the two being subordinate to each other. Specifically, digital twins are the most widely used technology in the industrial metaverse and a necessary stage in its development. Digital twins comprehensively utilize information technologies such as sensing, computing, and modeling to map the real world to a virtual world in a 1:1 ratio. By simulating production processes in the virtual world, they enable the description, diagnosis, prediction, and decision-making of the real world. Therefore, digital twins are the foundation for the industrial metaverse's "movement from the real to the virtual." In the future, with advancements in digital twin technology, the industrial metaverse is expected to establish a two-way connection between the virtual and the real, truly achieving a combination of the virtual and the real.
02 How can the industrial metaverse be applied in practice?
As the future form of intelligent manufacturing, the Industrial Metaverse will empower various links and scenarios in industry through the linkage and collaboration between virtual and real spaces, mainly including the management decision-making end, the R&D and production end, and the consumer end.
Management decision-making end
Industrial Metaverse can integrate various information such as historical data, simulation data, and consumer data to provide a more comprehensive and richer industry picture, assisting enterprise leaders in management and decision-making.
On the one hand, through technologies such as digital twins and 3D modeling, the Industrial Metaverse can extract valuable information from historical business data; it can also simulate real production processes and supply chain organization processes to find the optimal production path.
On the other hand, through technologies such as digital twins and IoT, information on the use of products purchased by consumers and their opinions will be fed back to brand owners, R&D institutions, and manufacturers in real time to help plan more suitable products.
R&D and production end
In the R&D phase, Industrial Metaverse can use models to repeatedly test the product's functions, the way each component works, and the consumer experience, thus solving current problems such as long trial production cycles for industrial products, complex and changeable environments, unstable manufacturing processes, and the disconnect between R&D and the market.
In the production and testing phase, managers can utilize the Industrial Metaverse platform to rationally plan capacity allocation, production processes, equipment structure, and personnel movement in advance. During actual production, operators simply need to wear VR/AR devices to immerse themselves in the construction and operation of a virtual smart factory in real time. They can interact with equipment and production lines in the virtual smart factory in real time, inputting commands to optimize production processes and improve the operational and management efficiency of on-site personnel. Furthermore, virtual remote control can help avoid hazardous work scenarios and ensure personnel safety.
Consumer side
In the sales process, by leveraging technologies related to the Industrial Metaverse, sellers can open virtual stores to showcase products, saving on offline promotion costs; before purchasing goods, consumers can intuitively understand product functions, experience operation methods, and performance through a highly immersive virtual world.
In the after-sales process, service personnel and consumers can communicate about problems and warranty products through the virtual world, saving time and labor costs while providing efficient service.
