Unity is launching a full-scale market attack for building digital twins using its core game engine technology.
On the 5th, Unity held the first integrated Asia Pacific region 'Unity APAC Industry Summit 2023' in Samseong-dong, sharing Unity's core technology utilization cases and the latest trends with experts, creators, and industry insiders from each industry sector. The event's keynote speech was led by Unity's Vice President of Unity Solutions Development, Lori Ames, and speakers from LG Uplus and Hyundai Motors participated.
▲Unity Lori Ames, Vice President of Unity Solutions Development
Vice President Rory Ames said, “There is an increasing number of cases of real-time simulation and digital twin utilization in Korea, where innovative steps are being taken in the industrial field,” and “Unity, a game engine company, will implement digital twins by creating new narratives based on scattered data using real-time 3D technology.”
A digital twin is a ‘virtualization of the process.’ Digital twin technology, which enables real-time linkage between reality and virtual reality, can be deployed in various industries. The digital twin market is expected to grow at an annual rate of approximately 25% until 2023, reaching a scale of 90 billion dollars.
Following this trend, Unity’s platform is being used to build digital twins in various industries such as automobiles, smart cities, aerospace, and healthcare. Unity has leading companies such as Hyundai Motor Company, LG Uplus, Samsung Heavy Industries, CJ Live, and Hyundai Infracore as its customers.
Unity emphasized the fact that digital twins are provided in real-time 3D form. Vice President Rory Ames said, “The core of digital twins is to ‘live’ the process by applying real-time 3D to collect and visualize manufacturing data from IoT devices and build an integrated pipeline model.”
The current game industry supports over 30 frames per second, while the speed of CAD in the industrial field is only 5-6 frames per second. In addition, the existing 2D is provided in real-time 3D to minimize errors and optimize the process. In addition, Unity supports data collection from all devices such as smartphones and iPads.
On this day, Unity also introduced Unity’s XR technology-based performance cases. With Apple Vision Pro about to be officially released, ‘Unity PolySpatial’ enables developers to develop Vision Pro applications. Integration with the Unity Editor allows creators to build experiences that run on Vision OS and leverage the capabilities of Apple Vision Pro.
Unity says that "Apple Vision Pro is not yet released, but you can develop apps for Apple Vision Pro with Unity, from 2D to immersive." Immersive apps are currently available for development via a plugin on the Unity website.
Unity has been investing in XR technology for a long time and has been supporting the development of XR content for new devices the fastest. Unity said, "To overcome the complexity of use and fragmentation of development, we are preparing various APIs to support various platforms and developing technology that can publish to all devices through a single project."
Unity also emphasized the impact and importance of AI technology on digital twins. Unity has launched its own AI services, including Unity Sentis, Unity Muse, and AI Marketplace.
Unity Sentis helps creators conceive and implement dynamic, interactive experiences without worrying about high cloud computing costs or latency. Creators can now deliver real-time 3D experiences across all platforms without worrying about cloud computing costs or latency. In particular, Unity’s Sentis runtime maximizes the possibilities of interactive gameplay and digital twins, from smart NPCs to replicating factory production floors.
Unity said, "AI applications are occurring naturally across all industries, and AI is used for asset preparation, object recognition in the real world, data training and prediction, and even within factories."
LG Uplus Lab Manager Kim Min-goo, who attended the event that day, introduced a case of implementing a space expansion service by digitalizing space based on a technology partnership with Unity.
LG Uplus Lab Director Kim Min-goo said, "Since the commercialization of 5G, an infrastructure environment has been created that can provide 3D content through streaming, which has also created various business opportunities," and "LG Uplus has provided a service through fusion with volumetric metric content production technology through technical collaboration with Unity."
The digitalization of space is evolving into the metaverse. LG Uplus said, "We will expand the interaction between virtual and real worlds as well as interactions in the virtual world to create a lifestyle platform with maximum connectivity in customers' daily lives."
Additionally, Hyundai Motor Company signed a strategic partnership with Unity to build a future metaverse platform and establish a roadmap at CES 2022 last year. The two companies agreed to build a digital virtual factory called 'Meta-Factory' that implements a real-life smart factory on a real-time 3D metaverse platform.
Hyundai Motor Company uses Unity’s solution to virtually evaluate and derive optimal production operation information in real time. On this day, Hong-Beom Jeong, head of the Hyundai Motor Group Singapore Global Innovation Center, said, “In the future, we will be able to control the movement path of mobile robots and assembly robots in real time through simulations in production scenarios for various vehicle models.”
