Can Apple’s Vision Pro revive the industrial metaverse?

This story was originally published on June 9, 2023 in my weekly IoT newsletter. You can subscribe to it here. 

For the last year or so, I’ve been scoffing at the concept of the industrial metaverse. Microsoft, Nvidia, Siemens, and other big names in the computing and industrial manufacturing world have been promulgating this concept with product launches and reports, the idea being that — thanks to powerful graphics computers and digital twin software — manufacturers will be able to create and run digital replicas of their factories virtually (in the metaverse) and use those simulations to improve operations or performance.

The concept isn’t technically new, but it gained ground as Meta poured billions into building the metaverse while it focused on selling the future of computing with a pair of AR goggles. However, as I watched Apple’s Vision Pro announcement this week, I found myself wondering: Do we even need the goggles?

As Apple launched its Vision Pro headset, capable of both full virtual reality (total immersion in the virtual world) and augmented reality (overlaying virtual items on top of the real world), industrial software maker PTC got a shoutout along with the idea of using the headset in manufacturing. It was brief, but since PTC has been building software for AR environments since its Vuforia acquisition in 2015, the inclusion made sense.

Except maybe it doesn’t. I’ve really struggled to believe that AR goggles in manufacturing act as anything more than a richer information overlay for factory workers. Last year, Microsoft, which has since pulled back from investing in the industrial metaverse, released a survey of 500 manufacturing executives showing that 23% said they had an AR deployment in the works while 38% weren’t interested in one.

To be sure, AR goggles can also be used for training new employees on equipment despite not having a lot of staff available, and for convincing the younger generation — which has shied away from factory work — that the manufacturing industry now embraces tech and, by extension, is cool.

The training examples are my favorite, both because I can see a real value-add for companies using the goggles and it means the goggles aren’t on someone’s face all the time. Indeed, as my testing of various AR goggles and even real-world tests of AR goggles show, wearing any sort of computer on your face gets old really quickly.

Perhaps what I found most compelling about Apple’s presentation of its Vision Pro headset was that the use cases presented seemed really time-constrained and limited. These aren’t goggles for wearing on your face as you move through the day. They’re for sitting down at your desk and working, standing in a hotel room collaborating, or sitting on your couch watching a movie.

Apple did show off the ability to take 3D photos and play them back later, but my hunch is that the headset would only be pulled out for those use cases on special occasions, or perhaps for catching a cute moment while already wearing the headset. The device only has a two-hour battery life and no mention of cellular or other radio technologies that might allow you to wander freely while wearing them.

All of that being said, this is a headset designed for a limited purpose and use case, much like the iPad is. So for an industrial setting or as part of an industrial metaverse, it’s worth asking what the right use case might be.

I have worn a few sets of mixed reality headsets in my career, including the Microsoft Hololens, and found the ones that allowed me to see my existing environment and imposed virtual images on top of that environment to be the best. They not only resulted in less nausea but the ability to see as I moved around an environment made me feel safe. Apple’s Vision Pro allows for this using video pass-through; it will even interrupt a fully virtual session when another person enters the space.

The resolution provided by the cameras (23 million pixels for each screen) is astonishing; wearers could easily blow up images of complex machinery in order to see more clearly what’s happening inside the machine. It also allows for multiple screens to be virtually situated around a worker, which could be handy when evaluating a problem or trying to collate information from multiple dashboards.

Thus, when it comes to an industrial metaverse, it’s likely these goggles would be good for troubleshooting and training. No one is going to wander around all day conducting manufacturing work in these goggles, but I can imagine someone moving from using a tablet to wearing them, much like someone today might move from a phone or tablet to a computer as they realize they need more tools to solve a problem.

In a sense, as tablets have gained ground in industrial settings, workers have gained mobility at the expense of manipulating a lot of data and content creation. With a headset, a worker could stay on the factory floor in front of a machine and get some of the benefits of a traditional computer allowing them to manipulate complex data. I’m not sure about creating reports or content, though.

The Vision Pro’s UI allows for scrolling, zooming, rotating, and tapping through cameras that detect small hand gestures. It uses gaze tracking to determine where a person wants to click in order to get more information or open a program (the Hololens does gaze tracking, too). Apple also mentioned a virtual keyboard, but I’m still a bit skeptical that that would be good for more than just a few sentences.

When it comes to the industrial metaverse, most of the value comes from pulling in real-time information and simulating the behavior of complex systems and machines in real time. People don’t actually need to see the output or even manipulate data in a virtual world when they can do that using traditional computing devices. What they do need is a window through which they can occasionally peek into that world if problems arise. The Apple Vision Pro and other mixed reality headsets can provide that window.

In addition to that window, they can also provide a mechanism for giving trainees or new employees a way to learn their roles in a risk-free virtual or AR environment. But my conclusion is that while the industrial metaverse may need goggles on occasion, it won’t require workers to live in that metaverse or even spend most of their day there.

Few people want to treat a pair of goggles like their phone — keeping it on their face at all times and guzzling information while also trying to existing in the real world. So Apple’s Vision Pro might be an advancement for those who need to use mixed reality headsets, but they aren’t going to usher in the industrial metaverse.