In the metaverse, complex systems can be designed, simulated, and optimized faster and with less effort before they are built in the real world. Even aspects like lifespan and wear can be anticipated. The Digital Twin plays a central role in this process, serving as a crucial component for the virtual, highly accurate representation of production environments. However, there is still a long way to go before entire manufacturing lines and processes are widely implemented in the metaverse. Industrial processes can only be transparently represented when all components in the metaverse are available. Initiatives like Manufacturing-X are defining common standards for data exchange and creating the necessary shared data spaces for this purpose.
However, holistic solutions are only possible if companies of all sizes engage with them. At this year's Digital Summit, Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Dr. Annika Hauptvogel, Head of Technology and Innovation Management at Siemens, Dr. Oliver Niese, Member of the Executive Board and Head of Digital Business at Festo Didactic, Dr. Eva Seidel, Business Chief Digital Officer at Bosch-Rexroth, Thomas Saueressig, Executive Board Member at SAP, and Henrik A. Schunk, Chairman of the Board at SCHUNK and Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Platform Industry 4.0, discussed the opportunities of key technologies. In the panel discussion "Industrial metaverse: How the virtual world supports real production," the participants explored its significance for the industry and presented concrete solutions. Digital Twins in particular, involve a high initial investment for SMEs. Nevertheless, all companies should address this to build the necessary digital skills. "Everyone must do their homework for momentum to build. Only then can the metaverse unlock new efficiency potentials," emphasized Henrik A. Schunk. To this end, SCHUNK is actively involved in the "Next Level mid-sized Companies" initiative, aiming to strengthen networking and targeted knowledge transfer in the industry. "It is important to get started, gain experience, and bravely handle data," said Schunk. In the end, this will open up opportunities for future-oriented development and decision-making processes. "Thanks to the metaverse, plants and factories will be planned more quickly and requires fewer resources in the future."
The journey from a simple CAD model to a complex data model that behaves exactly like in the real world is intricate. SCHUNK is already demonstrating how real industrial processes can be virtually represented at initial automation cells. To this end, the company has created Digital Twins for certain products which describe their complete physical behavior, such as the speeds at which the gripper fingers open and close, gripping force profiles, and friction values at the contact surfaces between the gripper and the object being gripped. Using NVIDIA Omniverse, a complete robot cell can already be developed and simulated in the metaverse. Gradually, additional Digital Twins of the total of 13,000 components will follow. Once the initial effort is completed, systems can be designed, simulated, and optimized faster and more easily before they are built.