What is Rewise project about?
The aim of the Rewise project is to demonstrate and illustrate resource-wise industrial solutions. The demonstration platform is built upon CoProtolab which provides tools for illustrating resource-wise solutions on a VR platform. (CoProtolab is one of the previous projects done at Muova where its VR platform illustrates industrial service processes in the virtual world. With the help of a visualized process model, services can be developed and tested with partners and customers).
Resource-wise solutions are based on the idea of sustainable and low-carbon solutions focusing on four main topics. Resource-wise solutions include
- energy efficiency and renewable energy,
- material efficiency and wise use of natural resources,
- circular economy and
- reduction of waste.
In addition, the solutions need to be developed in a holistic way which focuses on environmental impact of the whole value chain and product life-cycle instead of partial optimisation.
Illustrating resource-wise solutions
The aim of the project is to develop a demonstration and research platform as well as demonstrations for presenting resource-wise industrial solutions. The demonstration platform is build upon CoProtolab environment which is enhanced with tools and functionalities for illustrating resource-wise ecosystems in VR environment.
The demonstrations are developed in two iteration cycles, which focuses on different resource wise strategies:
- Energywise metal industry which utilises renewable energy and databased energy optimisation.
- Services of the equipment providers to support the resource-wise production of wood
Video demonstrations
1. VR based demonstrations about developing data-based energy optimisations in metal industry.
Link: DatabasedEnergy Video – YouTube
2. VR demonstration about energy wise logistics and energy solutions through life cycle analysis
Link: Rewise – VR demonstration about energy-wise metal value chains – YouTube
In order to know more insights from the project, we had a chat with Interaction designer of the team to know his experience.
As an interaction designer, João took care of all the technical developments of the project. His main role included conceptualization of the main purpose of the problem, 3d modelling and UI design, user testing, iterating on their feedback and so on.
Interesting parts of the project
Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is a relevant process for the companies. It allows them to understand how they can improve the environmental impact of their operations and become more efficient. However, this is a process that requires specific expertise, time and openness to share data. Moreover, the results need interpretation to identify hot spots and understand what different processes can actually reduce the environmental impact.
Rewise project collected good practices in the metal and forest industry and used VR to help companies to visualize LCA results. The results are represented by 3D models in a virtual environment and the user can navigate freely using the head mounted device and the controllers.
The use of VR is definitely an innovative and interesting way to quickly understand complex LCA results.
Challenges faced
VR is still something that is very new to many people. We were trying to keep simple UI which keeps people interested in the project and not distracted with the fascination of VR
People usually lacked experience in VR which made it difficult for them to immerse in the environment.
Learnings and takeaways
We have now good understanding of the VR and how LCA results can be prototyped with CoProtoLab. Moreover, we improved the user experience in the virtual environment so that the user can focus on the content as much as possible.
In the future, other technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) can also be a solution for visualizing LCA results. This can be achieved by using smart devices that are more user-friendly to users (smartphones, tablets).
We will also continue doing new projects with VR visualizations which will let us dive deeper into the field and discover new possibilities.
If you are interested to know more about the project, visit: Rewise (2020-2022): Rewise | Muova
