Interfaces in new places: Spatial computing and the industrial metaverse

More often than not, novel technologies spark excitement with early adopters and consumers before quietly receding from the public eye, only to reappear months or years later as productive business tools. Some see this pattern as a movement along research firm Gartner’s technology hype cycle,¹ while others understand it as a move from tech to toy to tool, as we discussed in Tech Trends 2023: In last year’s trend “Through the glass: Immersive internet for the enterprise,” we projected that the metaverse, or the immersive internet, would soon graduate to a full-blown enterprise tool as companies discover and build around new interaction capabilities such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) simulations.²

This year, we’ve seen some of those metaverse capabilities progress in new directions, toward the broader realm of spatial computing. As they’ve turned the corner from consumer toy to enterprise tool, spatial technologies are especially taking hold in industrial applications, where companies are focused on digital twins,³ spatial simulation,⁴ augmented work instructions, and collaborative digital spaces⁵ that make factories and businesses safer and more efficient. The opportunities are promising: Revenue driven by the industrial metaverse is projected to reach nearly US$100 billion by 2030, far outpacing the consumer (US$50 billion) and enterprise (US$30 billion) segments.⁶

Whether through time-tested devices such as tablets or experimental ones such as smart glasses, factory workers, designers, and engineers are benefiting from immersive 3D interaction in ways that traditional knowledge workers haven’t yet experienced. The industrial metaverse is defined by real-world physics, using spatial data and artificial intelligence to render immersive visualizations that exactly replica