Work in virtual worlds

Virtual worlds hold many promises for the work environment. They can allow teams to work together remotely, as if they were in the same room. They allow engineers to develop prototypes of the future. 

Virtual worlds can also offer safe on-the-job training in a virtual and augmented environment with little risk of injury and damage of expensive machinery and equipment:

• Working with machines in the factory is often dangerous and requires safety measures that cost money, time, and space. Extended reality (XR) technologies provide new safe ways of working that do not require being there physically. In this way, people can interact with the machines without potentially harming themselves.
• Digital twins in the manufacturing and automotive industries make it possible for businesses to model, prototype, and test large numbers of products in real time in an immersive environment. If everything goes well, they can commit physical and human resources to a project.
• Digital twins can also help to monitor and simulate complex processes, phenomena and human-related activities. For example, the Destination Earth digital twin helps monitoring and predicting the effects of climate change and extreme weather events. Another example is the Citiverse, helping cities to simulate and optimise traffic management or waste management.
• Virtual worlds can benefit agriculture through remote assistance for using and repairing machines and for a more precise and safer treatment of animals.
• Virtual worlds can boost the cultural and creative industry, from fashion to video games, cultural heritage, music, visual arts and design, by offering new ways to create, promote and distribute European content and engage with audiences.
• Furthermore, in the world of medicine, a three-dimensional (3D) copy of an organ can help doctors plan a surgery in minute detail and thus save lives. Virtual worlds training of medical workers is already an invaluable resource at many teaching hospitals. The European Virtual Human Twins (VHT) Initiative is a flagship initiative of the European Commission to foster and accelerate the development of integrated, validated digital representations of the human body, therefore contributing to medical research and healthcare delivery.

Business meetings in virtual worlds are also becoming more frequent, with and without holographic technology. Being virtually present in a meeting gives all participants a better sense of being together and for some industries, such as the construction industry, it is easier to demonstrate a process or equipment using 3D technologies, such as holograms. 

CORTEX2 is an EU-funded research project working with extended reality for remote collaboration in industry, remote technical training and a business meeting scenario.