Synergizing Digital Twins and Metaverse for Consumer Health: A Case Study Approach

Abstract

Metaverse and Digital Twins (DT) are rapidly advancing technologies with various independent applications in multiple fields, such as manufacturing, transportation, and consumer electronics. Their combination can be employed for achieving several applications in the consumer healthcare industry. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of the amalgamation of Digital Twins and Metaverse on the consumer healthcare industry is being thoroughly discussed by us for the first time. We have described three case studies- Digital Twin-enabled Virtual Health Consultation in Metaverse, Digital Twin-assisted Surgical Training in Metaverse, and Digital Twin-aided Self-Health Assessment in Metaverse. We used Meta Quest 2, Harfang3D, and da Vinci Research Kit for implementing Digital Twins and Metaverse. Digital Twins of Reachy and da Vinci medical robots have been implemented using URDF (Unified Robot Description Format) specifications. We have used inverse kinematics to replicate the conversion of physical movements to movements in a virtual world. Our case studies illustrate the functionality and feasibility of the confluence of Digital Twins and Metaverse for consumer health.