Several large groups, including Airbus and Saint-Gobain, met this week at Porte de Versailles, in Paris, for the IT Paris and DIMS 2023 trade shows. The opportunity for their teams to discuss, particularly around immersive technologies in an industrial environment. .
These uses are now part of the emergence of a new concept called “industrial metaverse”. Developments in virtual and mixed reality, but also digital twins, require new expertise.
Tailor-made VR applications for engineers
For the French ESN Sopra Steria, this version of the metaverse constitutes an opportunity. The service company is accelerating and announces two partnerships in this sector in April. With SkyReal, a French specialist in the design of virtual reality solutions, the target is therefore the industry.
The “strategic” partnership should lead to the development of “secure, optimized and innovative” VR solutions for manufacturers in the fields of aeronautics, aerospace, defense and energy.
The targeted applications must cover the needs of engineers in terms of design and data visualization. For these uses, SkyReal designs 3D and VR tools using Unreal Engine, a benchmark 3D engine.
“The aim of this collaboration with SkyReal is to offer companies unprecedented and secure immersive virtual reality solutions”, explains Josselin Demessine, Head of Engineering Business Line at Sopra Steria.
The industrial metaverse also uses technologies other than virtual reality. On the side of Airbus, for example, strategic applications today focus primarily on mixed reality. The manufacturer is also looking to develop collaborative functionalities.
Virtual simulations synchronized with reality
Another area of industry transformation: digital twins. It is on these applications of immersive technologies that Sopra Steria will collaborate with Nvidia and its Omniverse Enterprise platform.
The services company joins the Nvidia Partner Network (NPN) as a Solution Advisor Consultant. Its employees thus have access to the technology of the graphics card giant – GPUs that have become key for AI.
Omniverse is particularly involved in the development of custom 3D pipelines and simulation. Manufacturers can reproduce their production environments and carry out “virtual simulations perfectly synchronized with the real world”.
Sopra Steria emphasizes the need of companies in the sector for more real time, for example to reduce production cycles and improve operational efficiency. The pursuit of sustainable development objectives would also drive uses.
“Digital twins help solve the toughest challenges in engineering, manufacturing and research,” said Brian Harrison, director of digital twins for Nvidia.