From breweries on opposite ends of the world to aircraft technicians at remote airports, telecommunications infrastructure company Nokia is looking for ways to use Metaverse to help remote workers.
Nokia, which many remember as a manufacturer of consumer mobile devices, has since begun to develop technology and equipment that “delivers the internet.”
Robert Joyce, CTO of Nokia Oceania told Cointelegraph that part of those plans also include the delivery of Metaverse.
“Nokia set up two labs last year to really look at the Metaverse and the technologies that underpin the Metaverse.”
Last year, Nokia began partnering with an Australian university to deliver a 5G-connected microbrewery using metaverse technology, Joyce said.
Using Augmented Reality (AR), researchers from a brewery tech lab at the University of Technology Sydney are working with researchers from a twin facility at Dortmund University in Germany.
“They’re really doing integrated experiments where they’re making beer, they’re changing the process, the temperature, the timings, the volumes, the recipes. […] and they reverse the whole process of creating a digital twin,” he explained.
“Then they can actually simulate the brewing process in the digital twin so they can perfect the beer in the digital space.”
Meanwhile, in South Australia, Joyce said Nokia is using metaverse to help Cessna plane technicians at remote airports.
“We work with a company that has a virtual Cessna airplane […] You have a Cessna in front of you, then there is an audio instruction in your ear to tell you how to change a tire, or change an engine part,” said Joyce.
“We have a 5G connected Microsoft HoloLens and we were able to teach people how to service a Cessna using augmented reality in this case.”
Earlier this month, Nokia’s global chief strategy and technology officer Nishant Batra told the World Economic Forum (WEF) that Metaverse will have the biggest immediate impact on industries, rather than the consumer market.
“Ports are starting to use digital twins to track every container in their docks, no matter how deep they are buried in the stacks. Aerospace companies are building engines and fuselages in the digital world to simulate exactly how an airplane would fly — before they even used its first mechanical part,” Batra wrote in a Jan. 13 WEF op-ed.
Joyce agreed with the statement, adding that he does not expect the “consumer metaverse” to last until 2030.
He said that next year there will be five times the revenue spent in the “industrial Metaverse” compared to the consumer or business Metaverse.
“The technology isn’t there yet, the technology is clunky,” Joyce said, referring to the currently available consumer Metaverse devices.
“It’s not the best experience to have a Quest 2 in your head for a couple of hours, and not until people get to the augmented reality wearable comfortably. [and] mass produced.”
“We see this three or five-year lag before we see a lot of growth in consumer virtual reality or augmented reality services.”
Related: An overview of the metaverse in 2022
Asked how blockchain will play a part in Metaverse’s future, Joyce is optimistic that the technology will be key when payments or transfers of assets are involved.
“Obviously if you want integrity within a metaverse, then blockchain plays a part,” Joyce said.
“If I buy a house next to Snoop Dogg’s and I want to make sure it doesn’t get lifted and moved and copied, that’s where blockchain comes in handy in terms of maintaining the uniqueness of a digital space.”
But Joyce said he doesn’t believe blockchain is a must-have for all applications.
“It’s not an important technology that underpins Metaverse but I’m glad we got it […] and it will be used in the Metaverse,” he concluded.
