What is the metaverse and how is it revolutionizing our daily lives and interactions?

The metaverse is a digital environment where the real world and virtual space interact, providing users with immersive experiences through devices such as HMDs, virtual reality gloves, and treadmills, and has the potential to be used in a variety of fields, including education, job training, remote work, and more.

 

The term “metaverse” is a combination of the words “meta” meaning “transcendence” and “universe” meaning “world,” and refers to a space where the real world and virtual space actively interact. More than just virtual reality, a metaverse is a complex digital environment designed to give users a life-like experience. In this space, users can engage in a variety of activities, which can include aspects of the real world, such as gaming, education, work, and more.
A sensory delivery device is a device that delivers sensations to the user that are set to be seen and touched by an avatar representing the user in the metaverse. This allows the user to immerse themselves in the metaverse by experiencing the virtual space in a realistic way. The HMD, a device that delivers vision, delivers a parallax* image of the virtual space to both eyes of the user. As the brain assembles the images, the user can feel the three-dimensionality of space and objects. This makes it feel as if the user is looking at the object in the real world, maximizing the immersion of the virtual world.
A device that delivers sensory responses directly to the user’s hands as if they were touching an object in virtual space is a virtual reality glove. Virtual reality gloves are designed to allow users to feel the size, shape, and temperature of virtual objects that their avatar is touching in the virtual space. In addition to this, virtual reality gloves can make the avatar move in response to the user’s finger and arm movements. This strengthens the connection between the user and the avatar, making the interaction more realistic.
Meanwhile, spatial locomotion devices that relay the user’s movements to the avatar allow the user to have an immersive metaverse experience. A virtual reality treadmill, which is a spatial locomotion device, is installed in a defined space and supports the movement of the floor to allow the user to move in 360 degrees. This makes the user feel like they are actually walking around, allowing them to move freely in the virtual environment.
The motion tracking system used with a virtual reality treadmill is a system that synchronizes the avatar’s movements with the user’s movements and consists of motion tracking sensors, inertial measurement sensors, and pressure sensors. Motion tracking sensors capture the user’s movements, while inertial sensors measure the rate of change in the user’s speed of movement and rotation. Pressure sensors measure the pressure between different objects. If you run in shoes with a pressure sensor attached to the bottom, the pressure sensor can detect the pressure between the ground and the sole of your foot and determine the force with which you run.
The motion tracking system relays the user’s motion information to the computer, which then controls the base of the treadmill to match the direction and speed of the user’s movement. In this way, the movement of the treadmill changes according to the user’s movement, but the speed, direction, and inclination of the treadmill floor can also change according to changes in the environment of the virtual space in which the avatar exists. This technological advancement greatly enhances the quality of the Metaverse experience by allowing users to realistically experience physical reactions in the virtual space.
In addition, the scene in the virtual space displayed on the HMD changes as the user’s movements or the treadmill’s behavior changes, giving the user a more realistic experience. These technologies go beyond just visual and tactile experiences, allowing users to interact more naturally and intuitively within the metaverse, revolutionizing the digital experience going forward.
Metaverses are likely to evolve even further in the future, and will be used for more than just entertainment, but for education, job training, remote work, and more. For example, virtual classrooms allow students to learn in lifelike environments, and remote work environments allow employees to collaborate even when physically separated. These possibilities show that the metaverse has the potential to permeate our lives and change many aspects of our daily lives.