Into the Metaverse: How AI, the IoT and Digital Twins Accelerate Learning & Creating
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Education on every scholastic level, as well as vocational training and industrial product development/creation represent an industry perfectly poised for the technological upgrade of the metaverse. This will be best accomplished primarily through augmented reality (AR), based on enhancing actual scenarios with virtual representations of elements which can be manipulated in a realistic way to facilitate their actual experience by students and technicians.
AR integrates physical and digital worlds, with real-time interaction, through realistic 3D representations of physical and digital elements. This is an interactive experience where real-world objects are enhanced by computer-generated information including visual, audio, haptic and sometimes even somatosensory and olfactory sensations. It is an extension of actual reality, through virtual reality created for the specific purpose of teaching a skill.
The conquest of phobias and gains in mental health might also be considered under the category of learning as it could be seen as learning mental health whilst unlearning irrational fears. A review by Freeman on the use of AR and VR showed how these technologies might help in assessing and treating psychological disorders including anxiety, depression, eating disorders and even schizophrenia.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Metaverse
AI is poised to become the perfect partner for creative endeavors in the metaverse. Just one example is Promethean AI, a speech-activated partner for 3D interior decorating.
The trial and error process or iteration cycle the designer in this video goes through leads to a best final scenario that might not have been even considered by the designer alone, as a myriad of options are presented by the AI in a vast array of styles. Through the establishment of acceptable design parameters, groups of harmonious collections are quickly composed–much faster than an individual might be able to collect harmonious elements individually.
This use case and its principles may be applied to most other areas of creation including music, art and storytelling. For instance, musicians understand that certain chord progressions naturally work well together, while others do not. These optimal chord progressions may be incorporated in the AI programming and could be expanded upon through an iteration cycle with a human composer. Some programs are even assuming the creation of melodies to AI with varying degrees of success.
Nvidia, now playing a large role in the metaverse primarily through its Omniverse Enterprise, has taken a great interest in how “The Metaverse Can Help Humans and Robots Collaborate.” Among other features, Omniverse promises real-time design collaboration between team members working remotely on 3D workflows for products.
It is worth mentioning the importance of blockchain in the metaverse, especially with AI. This becomes necessary to establish an affordable and stable network. Given the staggering amount of data required for a 3D metaverse, the use of centralized servers would be expensive, along with incurring security vulnerabilities inherent in single point of failure systems. The decentralized and distributed system of blockchain solves this conundrum nicely.
The Internet of Things and the Metaverse
Image by methodshop from Pixabay
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the connection of devices to the internet and to each other to form a comprehensive system communicating not only with its users but with elements within itself. The way this is accomplished is through a network of physical objects embedded with sensors and equipped with processing and storage software, enabling the efficient exchange of data to seamlessly coordinate myriad functions.
The beauty of combining the IoT with the metaverse is that the interconnectedness of this system may be observed, altered, corrected and learned from in a completely virtual environment, free from the requisite consequences of the actual world. This is a kind of next level experimentation enabling a higher level of learning experience.
Digital Twins and the Metaverse
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
The idea of a digital twin or counterpart of a physical object is not new. The concept was publicly introduced by Michael Grieves in 2002, at a Society of Manufacturing Engineers conference. The digital twin was proposed as a conceptual model supporting product lifecycle management.
Ultimately, as we have seen in our analysis of the metaverse as a common theme, one breakthrough or “jolting” technology tends to quite synergistically support another for optimization of the whole. The need for IoT solutions depends quite heavily on Digital twin technology and vice versa.
These technologies cross industries in education, healthcare, manufacturing, the arts and on to smart cities together, using the metaverse as a comprehensive tool for efficient process and execution. The IoT and its sensor data deftly make use of real-time data and swiftly changing environments.
One example where this kind of testing, iteration and learning for effective creation will be especially effective is in the automotive industry. Through the use of a metaverse system, manufacturers would have real-time, road and field insight to enable prediction of the effectiveness of vehicles and equipment. This will ensure better manufacturing and vehicle performance before testing in the physical world.
The metaverse is already connecting us to each other and the world in new and exciting ways. Follow us at Beyond Enterprizes as we explore the many opportunities to enhance and accelerate learning, creating and other aspects of life through the evolution of the metaverse.
