The machine room of a virtual gas turbine is an odd place for inspiration, but it’s where engineers Ken and Steve had a lightbulb moment. Or rather their avatars did – as they met in a virtual replica of an industrial plant – and realised they could spot a dodgy pump, tackle logistics and chit chat, although they and the plant in question were hundreds of miles away in real life.
This synthetic world was a proof-of-concept project created for engineering clients by Capgemini – but went way beyond expectations, says Mike Dwyer, director of digital engineering at the technology consultancy. This is the metaverse – not as you know it in the gaming worlds of ‘Fortnite’ or shopping at Walmart – but a place for engineers and technologists to work together in real-time, with facts and figures at their virtual fingertips.
“Ken and Steve stroll through the same digital universe, walk into the control area, look at the operational parameters,” says Dwyer. “The...