Engineers and designers will instantly collaborate in the “borderless immersive workspace” of the industrial metaverse thanks to a new system that unites virtual reality (VR) and industrial software, Siemens and Sony have claimed.
Combining Siemens’ Xcelerator software with Sony’s new ‘spatial content creation system’, which includes a VR headset and a pair of controllers, the platform – unveiled at the CES 2024 tech show in Las Vegas, Nevada, yesterday (8 January) – is aimed at enabling “immersive engineering”.
The Sony headset includes 4K OLED displays, spatial recognition with six cameras and sensors, and video ‘see-through’ functionality that lets users overlay virtual designs on the physical environment.
Aimed at “sophisticated 3D content creation”, the system includes a ring controller that allows users to manipulate objects in virtual space, as well as a pointing controller that enables precise pointing, allowing creators to craft in virtual space with controllers and keyboards, all while wearing the head-mounted display.
Running Siemens software, the system will enable “designers and engineers to create and explore design concepts in a borderless immersive workspace”, the German multinational said.
“At Sony, we are passionate about empowering creators with cutting-edge technologies, and in the field of spatial content creation, we have thrived in innovating the way they work by utilising our proprietary motion and display technologies,” said Yoshinori Matsumoto, Sony executive deputy president.
“By combining our technologies and Siemens’ expertise in engineering, we are excited to enable more immersive engineering that redefines the daily workflow of designers and engineers. The high-quality, realistic rendering and intuitive interaction will give creators tools to pursue more immersive creative processes that fuel further innovation in the industrial metaverse.”
Siemens’ NX Immersive Designer, as the system is known, is expected to be available later this year.
“We envision the industrial metaverse as a virtual world that is nearly indistinguishable from reality, enabling people – along with AI – to collaborate in real time to address real-world challenges,” said Siemens CEO Roland Busch. “This will empower customers to accelerate innovation, enhance sustainability and adopt new technologies faster and at scale, leading to a profound transformation of entire industries and our everyday lives.”
Cedrik Neike, CEO of Siemens Digital Industries, said: “Siemens is making the industrial metaverse more accessible so that our customers can use it to solve their real-world problems faster, more sustainably and with greater efficiency – and we will make it available to companies of all sizes, so that everybody can turn their big ideas into world-changing innovations.”
Siemens previously announced a partnership with graphics and AI pioneer Nvidia “to enable the industrial metaverse and increase use of AI-driven digital twin technology that will help bring industrial automation to a new level.” The Siemens and Nvidia metaverse includes digital twins with real-time performance data and analytics, with a focus on photorealism.
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