Metaverse interoperatibility takes a step forward

In this post you can read my insights about Metaverse Standards Forum and why Amazon Proteus is a big thing.

Metaverse Standards Forum

Metaverse standards forum published good news this week. The standardization of Metaverse is stepping forward as numerous players join the group. Founding members of the forum include Microsoft, Meta, NVIDIA, Unity and various other members.

The Metaverse Standards Forum brings together leading standards organizations and companies for industry-wide cooperation on interoperability standards needed to build the open metaverse. The Forum will explore where the lack of interoperability is holding back metaverse deployment and how the work of Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) defining and evolving needed standards may be coordinated and accelerated. Open to any organization at no cost, the Forum will focus on pragmatic, action-based projects such as implementation prototyping, hackathons, plugfests, and open-source tooling to accelerate the testing and adoption of metaverse standards, while also developing consistent terminology and deployment guidelines.
June 21st, 2022 – Announcement by The Metaverse Standards Forum

This is important, because without standards it will be very difficult or impossible to create an interoperable Metaverse where we would not be limited with out identities to a single platform service. For example without this effort we would not be able to have the same identity with same possessions at Meta Metaverse and in the Microsoft Metaverse. Instead the standardization can lead to SAAS-effect: we can use and utilize different Metaverse platform services but since they are interoperable we are not limited to the single “cloud”. Instead we can utlize different services and retain our avatar & identity when attending events at Meta, doing work at Microsoft and shopping at Amazon. For example we can use today Google account login for various services as organizations are offering a federated authentication that supports Google. Metaverse standard should be taking this further forward and support , besides identity, and honor avatar design, metadata, possessions and also it needs to plan how different metaverses have acceptable limits. For example joining a work call with Mindcraft based avatar would be a no-no. Instead there needs to be a transition that happens to the avatar and to it’s possesions in certain metaverses. In the beginning it might be as simple as certain elements won’t be allowed while avatar itself gets a kind of resemblance that is supported by the hosting Metaverse platform and policies.

Of course it is not just about the avatar and identity. It is also about trusting specific services and creating a secure way for authoring payments, for example. There has been interesting discussion and questions about this topic with Unho Choi and others. How do you identify the host or organizer when you are in the other service? What about admins or moderators? How about authorizing your identity (yes, it is me – Vesku ) to the host. How you can do that securely? After all – security and complicate are extremely important to cover so we don’t risk our identity being stolen when we journey across the metaverse. And of course – how we can authorize the payment in a concert that is in a different metaverse provider’s platform than where our payment information is.

I welcome this standardization. It has a lots of work ahead and their journey has just began.

Industrial Metaverse automation achievements: Amazon Proteus

Not related to the standardization news, but I have to use this opportunity share the information about Amazon’s autonomous cart delivery robot Proteus.

Proteus autonomously moves through our facilities using advanced safety, perception, and navigation technology developed by Amazon. The robot was built to be automatically directed to perform its work and move around employees—meaning it has no need to be confined to restricted areas. It can operate in a manner that augments simple, safe interaction between technology and people—opening up a broader range of possible uses to help our employees—such as the lifting and movement of GoCarts, the non-automated, wheeled transports used to move packages through our facilities.
Amazon staff “10 years of Amazon robotics: how robots help sort packages, move product, and improve safety”

Amazon’s Proetus is an excellent example of something you can do when you combine physical world, business needs and artificial intelligence together – taking the step to connect physical world to the intelligent digital space. This is a great example on the Industrial Metaverse – advanced robotics and AI working together. You don’t need physcial area constrants (like fences) but I would imagine they have a digital twin and lots of IoT behind scenes to support their AI on performing work tasks among people walking in the same floor.

We have seen lots of autonomous or semi-autonomous robots in the manufacturing industry. Usually those robots are limited to certain area or are performing a specific task repeatedly. Proteus takes this quite to the next step and expands it’s working are where humans are working as well – making AI to work besides people. Thinking self driving cars as comparison: neither is limited to a specific small area and they move where other people move around. In the warehouse space is much more condenced but it also has the rush hour going on most of the time – and unlike self driving cars you don’t have a human driving on it to take control if something unexpected happens. There needs to be a good trained AI machine learning core working who can minimize accidents. I am quite sure there is also a panic button any employee can hit to stop it if something goes sideways.

Proteus is there to help people to work better and take load off them – especially when moving heavier packages in the warehouse. This is a great experiment to see how more intelligent robots could be used in jobs that have been traditionally requiring people instead of machines. Perhaps Amazon will have a control room where operators can monitor big number of autonomous vehicles accross the globe – again a step forward from the traditional process industry “control rooms” that were located throughout the factory to monitor and control specific areas of the process.