Microsoft wants to create immersive tech for industrial workers: The Information

Quick Take

  • Microsoft is hoping to change how industrial work is performed via immersive software.
  • The tech giant has created a new internal team known as Industrial Metaverse Core to pursue this effort. 

Microsoft wants to harness the metaverse to change the experience of industrial work.

The tech giant revealed a new team internally last week, Industrial Metaverse Core, according to a report from The Information.

The team reportedly aims to create immersive software interfaces for using industrial control systems that power electrical plants, industrial robotics, and transportation networks, among other applications. 

The industrial offering will include tech built by Bonsai, which is a low-code AI development platform Microsoft acquired in 2018, the report said. At the time of the acquisition Microsoft's Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president and head of autonomous systems, said Bonsai would be deployed on top of the firm's Azure public cloud.

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Microsoft envisages that an industrial work-focused virtual world will be used to monitor machines or factory environments. Aircraft mechanics might use it to examine jet engines in a simulated software environment, using artificial reality or virtual reality headsets to assess the machinery.

Following the development of the Azure service, industrial engineers can use it to merge artificial intelligence with industrial equipment and processes, with no software development experience, The Information reported. 

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Block.


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About Author

Adam Morgan is a reporter covering cryptocurrency, financial markets, and economics – anything from price movements, earnings reports, and inflation to the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decisions and everything in between. Adam is based in London.