Virtual Factory

For Hannover Messe 2025, one of the world’s largest industrial trade fairs, weltenbauer. developed a comprehensive tech demo to showcase the possibilities of the industrial metaverse.

Using modern virtual reality glasses, visitors were able to view an interactive 3D model of a factory simulation on a touch table. The virtual world was supplemented with a real robot arm from igus at our exhibition stand, which was mirrored in its entirety in the virtual factory environment as a digital twin. The real model was connected to the virtual model via MQTT.

To enable all viewers of the scene to examine and discuss the virtual simulation, all elements of the tech demo were synchronised in a local multiplayer setup.

All data was synchronised in parallel to an instance of the Azure Digital Twin portal for long-term evaluation and analysis.

For our demo, we combined various technologies and hardware components to create a comprehensive experience. We used the following technologies:

•  Igus ReBeL Cobot 4 DOF welding robot
•  Data analysis in the Azure Digital Twin Portal
•  Virtual reality planning with Meta Quest 3
•  Live visualisation of the ‘Virtual Factory’ based on the Unreal Engine
•  Real-time data exchange with MQTT
•  Interactive 75″ touch table