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Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition

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A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Science & Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 17336

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yiyu Cai

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Guest Editor

School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Interests: virtual reality; augmented reality; serious games; simulation; computer-aided design; bio- and medical sciences; smart cities
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Dr. Qi Cao

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Guest Editor

School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, Singapore 567739, Singapore
Interests: virtual reality; augmented reality; data analytics; computational intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Xiao Zhang

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Guest Editor

Transmedia School, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, Guangzhou, China
Interests: digital museum; virtual reality; augmented reality; digital media
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Xiaoqun Wu

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Guest Editor

School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business Univeristy, Beijing 100048, China
Interests: computer graphics; digital geometry processing; virtual/augmented reality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ingrid Winkler

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Guest Editor

1. Department of Management and Industrial Technology, SENAI CIMATEC University Center, Salvador 41650-010, Brazil
2. Institute for Science, Innovation and Technology in Industry 4.0/INCITE INDUSTRIA 4.0, Salvador 41650-010, Brazil
Interests: virtual reality; augmented reality; human–computer interaction; industrial metaverse

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Evolving from VR, AR, and MR, Metaverse is going to penetrate virtually everything and be present everywhere from home to school to the office. This is a timely Special Issue devoted to Metaverse and Digital Twins focusing on fundamental research and application development. Papers published in this Special Issue will discuss and share the outcomes of fundamental research, novel use cases, and the applications of Metaverse and Digital Twins. These include algorithms, methodologies, and techniques related to Metaverse and Digital Twins. Papers on the design and development of Metaverse and Digital Twins systems for various applications will be of interest to this Special Issue as well. For this Special Issue, prospective authors are invited to submit their research findings including state-of-the-art reviews, novel ideas, theoretical frameworks, practical analyses, and innovative applications of Metaverse and Digital Twins in relevant fields. Overall, this Special Issue aims to stimulate future interdisciplinary research and the development of Metaverse and Digital Twins. All submitted papers must be original and must not have been submitted for consideration in other journals or conferences.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

General Topic of Metaverse and Digital Twins

Frameworks of Metaverse and Digital Twins
Metaverse and Digital Twins in real-time systems
Modelling and simulation of Metaverse and Digital Twins

Science and Technology for VR/AR and Digital Twins

AI solutions for Metaverse and Digital Twins
Cloud/edge computing for VR/AR and Digital Twins
Hardware and software for VR/AR and Digital Twins
VR/AR and Digital Twins in IoT and smart cities

Metaverse and Digital Twins for Engineering

Metaverse and Digital Twins for Industry 4.0
Metaverse and Digital Twins for smart manufacturing
Metaverse and Digital Twins for construction and building
Metaverse and Digital Twins for processing, maintenance, and optimization

Metaverse and Digital Twins for Cultural Heritage

Metaverse and Digital Twins for the conservation of cultural heritage
Metaverse and Digital Twins for the exhibition of cultural heritage
Metaverse and Digital Twins for cultural industries

Metaverse and Digital Twins for Art

Metaverse and Digital Twins for fine art
Metaverse and Digital Twins for media art
Metaverse and Digital Twins for folk art
Metaverse and Digital Twins for art design
Metaverse and Digital Twins for art exhibition

Dr. Yiyu Cai
Dr. Qi Cao
Dr. Xiao Zhang
Dr. Xiaoqun Wu
Dr. Ingrid Winkler
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality
digital twins
metaverse
Industry 4.0
internet of things
smart cities
cultural heritage
art
generative AI
ChatGPT

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Metaverse and Digital Twins in Electronics (14 articles)

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 3664 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Literacy Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Federated Digital Twin Scheduling for the Software-Defined Factory

by Jangsu Ahn, Seongjin Yun, Jin-Woo Kwon and Won-Tae Kim

Electronics 2024, 13(22), 4452; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13224452 - 13 Nov 2024

Viewed by 448

Abstract

As user requirements become increasingly complex, the demand for product personalization is growing, but traditional hardware-centric production relies on fixed procedures that lack the flexibility to support diverse requirements. Although bespoke manufacturing has been introduced, it provides users with only a few standardized options, limiting its ability to meet a wide range of needs. To address this issue, a new manufacturing concept called the software-defined factory has emerged. It is an autonomous manufacturing system that provides reconfigurable manufacturing services to produce tailored products. Reinforcement learning has been suggested for flexible scheduling to satisfy user requirements. However, fixed rule-based methods struggle to accommodate conflicting needs. This study proposes a novel federated digital twin scheduling that combines large language models and deep reinforcement learning algorithms to meet diverse user requirements in the software-defined factory. The large language model-based literacy module analyzes requirements in natural language and assigns weights to digital twin attributes to achieve highly relevant KPIs, which are used to guide scheduling decisions. The deep reinforcement learning-based scheduling module optimizes scheduling by selecting the job and machine with the maximum reward. Different types of user requirements, such as reducing manufacturing costs and improving productivity, are input and evaluated by comparing the flow-shop scheduling with job-shop scheduling based on reinforcement learning. Experimental results indicate that in requirement case 1 (the manufacturing cost), the proposed method outperforms flow-shop scheduling by up to 14.9% and job-shop scheduling by 5.6%. For requirement case 2 (productivity), it exceeds the flow-shop method by up to 13.4% and the job-shop baseline by 7.2%. The results confirm that the literacy DRL scheduling proposed in this paper can handle the individual characteristics of requirements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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14 pages, 1817 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Taxonomy of Embodiment in the AI Era

by Thomas Hellström, Niclas Kaiser and Suna Bensch

Electronics 2024, 13(22), 4441; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13224441 - 13 Nov 2024

Viewed by 350

Abstract

This paper presents a taxonomy of agents’ embodiment in physical and virtual environments. It categorizes embodiment based on five entities: the agent being embodied, the possible mediator of the embodiment, the environment in which sensing and acting take place, the degree of body, and the intertwining of body, mind, and environment. The taxonomy is applied to a wide range of embodiment of humans, artifacts, and programs, including recent technological and scientific innovations related to virtual reality, augmented reality, telepresence, the metaverse, digital twins, and large language models. The presented taxonomy is a powerful tool to analyze, clarify, and compare complex cases of embodiment. For example, it makes the choice between a dualistic and non-dualistic perspective of an agent’s embodiment explicit and clear. The taxonomy also aided us to formulate the term “embodiment by proxy” to denote how seemingly non-embodied agents may affect the world by using humans as “extended arms”. We also introduce the concept “off-line embodiment” to describe large language models’ ability to create an illusion of human perception. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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25 pages, 1188 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adoption and Continuance in the Metaverse

by Donghyuk Shin and Hyeon Jo

Electronics 2024, 13(19), 3917; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13193917 - 3 Oct 2024

Viewed by 571

Abstract

The burgeoning metaverse market, encompassing virtual and augmented reality, gaming, and manufacturing processes, presents a unique domain for studying user behavior. This study delineates a research framework to investigate the antecedents of behavioral intention, bifurcating users into inexperienced and experienced cohorts. Utilizing a cross-sectional survey, empirical data were amassed and analyzed using structural equation modeling, encompassing 372 responses from 131 inexperienced and 241 experienced users. For inexperienced users, the analysis underscored the significant impact of perceived usefulness on both satisfaction and adoption intention, while perceived enjoyment was found to bolster only satisfaction. Innovativeness and satisfaction do not drive adoption intention. Conversely, for experienced users, satisfaction was significantly influenced by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived enjoyment. Continuance intention was positively affected by perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, trust, innovativeness, and satisfaction. This research extends valuable insights for both theoretical advancements and practical implementations in the burgeoning metaverse landscape. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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21 pages, 49723 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sounds of History: A Digital Twin Approach to Musical Heritage Preservation in Virtual Museums

by Changman Zou, Sang-Yong Rhee, Lin He, Dayang Chen and Xiaofei Yang

Electronics 2024, 13(12), 2388; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13122388 - 18 Jun 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1072

Abstract

Musical cultural heritage, as an important component of cultural heritage, possesses significant cultural value and inheritance significance. With the development of society and the passage of time, these precious traditional musical cultural heritages inevitably face the dilemma of gradual depletion or even disappearance. In the digital age, effectively protecting and inheriting these musical cultural heritages has become an urgent problem to be addressed. Therefore, this paper proposes an application method based on digital twin technology, exploring how to protect and inherit musical cultural heritages through digital twin technology. By leveraging digital twin technology, a virtual museum dedicated to showcasing the richness and historical connotations of music cultures is created, preserving and simulating the soundscapes of historical music eras. Through the integration of audio archives, 3D modeling, and interactive displays, users can immerse themselves in the experience of historical music in the digital space. This paper evaluates the feasibility and cultural preservation value of this digital music history museum through the creation of music digital twin technology instances and user survey feedback and discusses the prospects of digital twins in the field of musical cultural heritage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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29 pages, 16860 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Digital Silk Roads: Leveraging the Metaverse for Cultural Tourism within the Belt and Road Initiative Framework

by Bashar Dayoub, Peifeng Yang, Sarah Omran, Qiuyi Zhang and Alaa Dayoub

Electronics 2024, 13(12), 2306; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13122306 - 13 Jun 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1790

Abstract

The advent of the Metaverse, a convergence of virtual and physical realities, presents unprecedented opportunities for promoting cultural tourism along the historic Silk Roads within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework. However, this emerging technology’s potential remains largely unexplored in the context of cultural heritage preservation and its promotion. The aim of this study is to address this gap by empirically examining how the Metaverse can be harnessed to improve tourists’ experiences, support sustainable tourism development, and promote cultural exchange along the Silk Roads. In this study, we employed a mixed-methods approach grounded in attribution theory, using both surveys and semi-structured interviews with Silk Road tourists who had been exposed to Metaverse applications. To investigate the relationships between Metaverse features, tourists’ attributions, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions, we used structural equation modeling and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that perceived immersion, avatar identification, and cultural authenticity significantly influenced tourists’ internal, stable, and controllable attributions. Interviews further highlighted the Metaverse’s potential to promote accessibility, interpretation, and engagement with Silk Road heritage, while also raising sociocultural and ethical considerations. This paper also showcases the development of Metaverse digital twin prototypes for several iconic Silk Road cities to demonstrate the potential for participatory virtual environments to promote cultural heritage preservation, accessibility, and sustainable tourism. The study’s findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of Metaverse tourism and the application of attribution theory, offering practical insight for the responsible and effective harnessing of this transformative technology. This research provides actionable recommendations for policymakers, destination managers, and technology providers to optimize the Metaverse’s potential for cultural tourism along the Silk Roads. This has great potential in promoting the BRI’s connectivity and cooperation objectives. This paper lays the foundation for future research and responsible innovation at the intersection of emerging technologies, cultural heritage, and sustainable tourism development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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22 pages, 2975 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Study of the Key Factors Influencing Young Users’ Continued Use of the Digital Twin-Enhanced Metaverse Museum

by Ronghui Wu, Lin Gao, Hyemin Lee, Junping Xu and Younghwan Pan

Electronics 2024, 13(12), 2303; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13122303 - 12 Jun 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1861

Abstract

This research investigates the key factors influencing young users’ continuous use of digital twin-enhanced metaverse museums. Attracting young users to use the metaverse museum for a more extended period consistently contributes to increasing the frequency of visits and content usage and promoting its sustainable development and innovation. However, there is a lack of research on the key factors influencing young users’ continuous use of digital twin-enhanced metaverse museums, which makes the theoretical basis for the in-depth design of user motivation for metaverse museums insufficient. This study constructed a model covering four dimensions—hedonic, utilitarian, social, and technological—based on communication’s uses and gratification theory (UGT). It was validated in the Metaverse Digital Twin Museum (MDTM). Using Spatial.io’s IES Goya Museum as the experimental platform, the research team conducted Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4.0 software through experiments and surveys with 307 participants aged 18 to 30. Quantitative analyses revealed that MDTM’s hedonic gratification (hope), utilitarian gratification (information and self-presentation), social gratification (social interaction and social presence), and technological gratification (immersion) significantly influenced young users’ continued intention. The findings reveal that these six key factors can be the focus of MDTM’s future development to enhance user experience. This study fills the gap in applying UGT in the field of metaverse museums, provides metaverse museum managers with references to the key factors that can prolong users’ continued intention to use, and points out the key factors that need further attention in future research and practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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20 pages, 2414 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Mediating Role of Different Aspects of Learning Motivation between Metaverse Learning Experiences and Gamification

by Wei Yang, Meichen Fang, Junping Xu, Xiao Zhang and Younghwan Pan

Electronics 2024, 13(7), 1297; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13071297 - 30 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1354

Abstract

In recent years, research and applications related to the metaverse have garnered widespread attention in the field of online education. However, enhancing user experiences in metaverse learning remains a challenging issue. This study aims to explore how gamification enhances the metaverse learning experience by boosting learning motivation. In the first phase of the research, the relationship between gamification, learning motivation, and user learning satisfaction was examined. The results indicated higher user satisfaction with gamified metaverse learning experiences, with intrinsic and external regulations serving as mediating factors between gamification and learning satisfaction. In the second phase of the study, the five elements of gamification (challenge, reward, feedback, PBL, social interaction) were further validated for their role in enhancing learning motivation and, consequently, improving learning satisfaction. Notably, the rewarding element emerged as the most significant factor. These research findings hold practical significance for providers of metaverse learning experiences and the application of gamification in metaverse learning. They provide valuable insights for future research and practical implementation in this evolving field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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16 pages, 18504 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hazardous and Toxic Material Decontamination Facility Training in Virtual Reality

by Jeannie S. A. Lee, Teck Jun Tan, David Kuan Peng Teng, Yih Yng Ng and Kan Chen

Electronics 2024, 13(2), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13020465 - 22 Jan 2024

Viewed by 1232

Abstract

Patient decontamination is the act of removing or neutralising hazardous substances from an affected individual. To ensure adequate emergency preparedness, regulations require hospitals to train personnel in decontamination procedures regularly. To supplement in-person training, a virtual reality (VR) system is being developed for the training of hospital staff members in the mass decontamination of hazardous and toxic materials (HAZMAT) and/or radioactively contaminated casualties. As a demonstration of the concept, a primary VR prototype is designed to help users familiarize themselves with a chemical scanner tool, intended for examining victims for residual chemical hazards. This initial prototype showcases the benefits of using VR to create training simulations, complementing existing decontamination training methods in a secure and cost-effective manner. The proposed approach features a modularized user-centric design, a novel scanning simulation, and a high-realism virtual environment and workflow to enhance training effectiveness. A pilot user study and assessment suggest that new users were able to achieve a significant level of competency with VR, compared to users who underwent traditional training. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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Review

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17 pages, 14597 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Entering the Next Dimension: A Review of 3D User Interfaces for Virtual Reality

by Adriel Yeo, Benjamin W. J. Kwok, Angelene Joshna, Kan Chen and Jeannie S. A. Lee

Electronics 2024, 13(3), 600; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13030600 - 1 Feb 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3192

Abstract

In the last decade, the use of virtual reality (VR) technologies has been increasing, as head-mounted display devices, such as the Meta Quest series, have become commercially accessible to everyday consumers. There are plenty of software applications developed for VR, ranging from games to serious training. Despite the fast-growing emergence of novel and natural gesture-based interface components, traditional windows, icons, menus, and pointer user interfaces still remain popular in these implementations. Therefore, navigating and interacting within 3-dimensional environments can still be challenging in virtual reality. This body of work will serve as a reference to the literature survey on 3-dimensional user interfaces and their implementations, and categorize them to reiterate a set of design recommendations for implementing 3-dimensional user interfaces in virtual reality. While questions revolve around the need for a 3-dimensional user interface if a 2-dimensional user interface suffices, we cannot ignore the capabilities and benefits offered when utilising 3-dimensional space. Unlike other work, this work proposes a novel metaphor-guided quadrant model to delineate the 3-dimensional user interface problem in an end-to-end manner. To achieve this, over 30 unique articles selected using a meta-analyses methodology were reviewed. The result highlights the dimensional semantics of the inputs and dimensional outcomes of the virtual targets. Notable reiterated design recommendations would match devices to interaction and then to the tasks in 3-dimensional environments, reducing the degrees of freedom, imposing constraints when possible, and not implementing one single best interaction technique. The results of this survey will be beneficial for virtual reality simulation designers or researchers attempting to determine the appropriate model when developing user interfaces for virtual reality content. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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Other

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35 pages, 1458 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Cardiac Healthcare Digital Twins Supported by Artificial Intelligence-Based Algorithms and Extended Reality—A Systematic Review

by Zofia Rudnicka, Klaudia Proniewska, Mark Perkins and Agnieszka Pregowska

Electronics 2024, 13(5), 866; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13050866 - 23 Feb 2024

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4018

Abstract

Recently, significant efforts have been made to create Health Digital Twins (HDTs), Digital Twins for clinical applications. Heart modeling is one of the fastest-growing fields, which favors the effective application of HDTs. The clinical application of HDTs will be increasingly widespread in the future of healthcare services and has huge potential to form part of mainstream medicine. However, it requires the development of both models and algorithms for the analysis of medical data, and advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based algorithms have already revolutionized image segmentation processes. Precise segmentation of lesions may contribute to an efficient diagnostics process and a more effective selection of targeted therapy. In this systematic review, a brief overview of recent achievements in HDT technologies in the field of cardiology, including interventional cardiology, was conducted. HDTs were studied taking into account the application of Extended Reality (XR) and AI, as well as data security, technical risks, and ethics-related issues. Special emphasis was put on automatic segmentation issues. In this study, 253 literature sources were taken into account. It appears that improvements in data processing will focus on automatic segmentation of medical imaging in addition to three-dimensional (3D) pictures to reconstruct the anatomy of the heart and torso that can be displayed in XR-based devices. This will contribute to the development of effective heart diagnostics. The combination of AI, XR, and an HDT-based solution will help to avoid technical errors and serve as a universal methodology in the development of personalized cardiology. Additionally, we describe potential applications, limitations, and further research directions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition)

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