Imagine a future where ships are designed, operated, and maintained with unprecedented energy efficiency, all within a cutting-edge industrial metaverse. But here’s where it gets controversial: can virtual environments truly revolutionize traditional shipbuilding? Turku University of Applied Sciences (UAS) is betting on it with their groundbreaking project, Necoverse, funded by Business Finland. This initiative aims to transform the shipbuilding industry by integrating people, ships, and shipyards into a metaverse environment, focusing on enhancing energy efficiency from the design phase to daily operations.
And this is the part most people miss: Necoverse isn’t just about virtual reality; it’s about merging sensor data, advanced user interfaces, and multi-user virtual worlds to create a seamless industrial ecosystem. The project leverages Nokia’s Real-time eXtended Reality Multimedia (RXRM) platform to develop a teleoperation solution that’s as innovative as it is practical. At its core is a remotely controlled Omron LD-60 robot equipped with 360° live cameras, offering both first-person and third-person perspectives. This setup isn’t limited to robots—it can be adapted to vessels, drones, or other mobile platforms, opening up a world of possibilities.
The magic happens through a Head-up Display (HUD) developed by Turku UAS, which overlays real-time sensor data like temperature and humidity directly onto the user’s view, whether on a headset, screen, or mobile device. This ensures operators have all the information they need to make efficient decisions. As one Research Group Leader at Turku UAS put it, ‘Our collaboration with Nokia has been seamless, and we’re excited to further develop our industrial metaverse environments by combining the strengths of Nokia’s RXRM technology, the Unity physics engine, and metaverse platforms.’
Here’s the game-changer: Nokia’s RXRM technology optimizes bandwidth for high-quality 360° video and 3D audio streaming, slashing the required bandwidth by over 95% in Turku UAS’s robot application. This efficiency is a game-changer for collaborative virtual environments, as demonstrated during the Imagine The Metaverse event in Finland. Over two days, the system operated flawlessly between two cities 160km apart, generating 1.8 TiB of content while using only 82 GiB of uplink bandwidth—all without a single stutter in the 360° video streams.
But the real power lies in its ability to enable seamless collaboration. Users from different locations or organizations can work together in real-time, immersed in the same environment but with personalized viewpoints. Turku UAS even utilized wide LED walls to visualize the metaverse for larger groups, making it perfect for training scenarios. This mobile real-time teleoperation isn’t just a niche innovation; it’s a key to unlocking efficiency across industries.
Now, here’s the question that sparks debate: Can the industrial metaverse truly replace traditional methods, or is it just a high-tech supplement? While Turku UAS and Nokia are proving its potential, the answer may depend on how industries adapt. One thing’s for sure—this technology is no longer science fiction. It’s here, and it’s transforming the way we work. What do you think? Is the metaverse the future of industrial operations, or is it too early to tell? Let’s discuss in the comments!
