The next step for the intelligent interconnection of all things: real-time interaction may become the water and air of the metaverse

On October 22-23, the RTE2021 Real-time Internet Conference hosted by Agora was held in Beijing. With the theme of "Vanxiang Channel", the conference shared and discussed the industry changes and trend outlook of the real-time interactive industry in the past year, and showed the Internet from multiple dimensions such as scenarios, technologies, products, and ecology. The two-day conference brought together RTE technology leaders and industry giants, bringing more than 20 cutting-edge forums and activities, and nearly 100 wonderful sharings.

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The loT sub-forum focused on the topic of "Breaking Boundaries • Everything Can Interact", and invited experts in the fields of XR, smart communities, and smart hardware to discuss how RTE can break the boundaries between virtuality and reality and create sparks with technologies such as 5G, XR, AI, and IoT. Hou Yunyi, head of Agora loT products, Yuan Dong, senior director of HTC Vive software products and head of Asia Pacific developer relations, Tian Longqiang, senior manager of IoT ecosystem cooperation at Amazon Web Services, and Wang Yumin, general manager of Beijing Haolin Technology, delivered keynote speeches and gathered many experts to hold two roundtable forums, which doubled the collision of ideas!

Hou Yunyi of SoundNet: Real-time interaction may be the water and air for building the metaverse

In recent years, the rapid development of IoT technology has gradually changed people's daily life and production methods, and has become an emotional bond between the public. Under the catalysis of the epidemic, real-time interaction (RTE) has also become a rigid demand, providing a wealth of application scenarios for the development of XR and IoT technologies. RTE + IoT/XR has become the new normal. Hou Yunyi introduced that the sound network IoT solution has the characteristics of more complete compatibility, easier integration, smaller size, and better performance, covering all scenarios such as wearables, homes, and outdoors. Hou Yunyi shared many application scenarios, such as remotely controlling infrared to stroke cats and pets; identifying birds and squirrels through real-time audio and video, and capturing the wonderful moments of their feeding; and using fitness magic mirrors and other devices to let the public "stay at home without forgetting fitness."

Hou Yunyi, Head of Agora IoT Products

Hou Yunyi pointed out that real-time interaction also plays an irreplaceable role in the fields of smart transportation and smart industry. For example, the integration of real-time communication data between cars and roads, and between cars, can provide a basis for traffic dispatch and smart decision-making. In addition, real-time audio and video technology can be equipped with AR glasses, smart helmets, drones and other equipment to achieve remote operations, remote inspection and monitoring, etc., helping to improve production efficiency.

" We can see that real-time interaction is driving changes in the entire loT industry. From smart living, smart transportation, smart business to smart industry, real-time interaction is gradually penetrating into people's daily life, work, and production, helping to solve pain points such as fragmentation and ecological division, and is committed to building a real-time, large-scale Internet of Things ecosystem. " Hou Yunyi said.

Referring to the recently popular concept of the metaverse, Hou Yunyi pointed out that real-time interaction may be the water and air for building the metaverse. Under the new interaction logic, the combination of RTE and XR will redefine "together", better restore reality, and bring higher interaction efficiency. Today, VR virtual space has been widely used in many scenarios such as VR meetings, interviews, social networking, and games.

Regarding the future development of IoT, Hou Yunyi believes that the parallel interaction field will have certain development potential, and RTE will be the central nervous system of the digital world.

HTC Vive Yuan Dong: VIVEPORT opens the virtual reality journey

In the past six years, HTC has gradually built the ecosystem of the Metaverse from aspects such as VR hardware, VR mall and content, blockchain, 5G, and AI. The Metaverse architecture requires hardware, networks, computing power, content services and assets, exchange tools and standards, etc. What VIVEPORT is trying to build is a virtual-real interactive universe where people can create their own world and apply the experience and knowledge of the real world to interact with the virtual world. "The Metaverse is an extension of imagination and a stage for creativity," Yuan Dong pointed out in his sharing.

Yuan Dong, Senior Director of HTC Vive Software Products and Head of Developer Relations in Asia Pacific

According to Yuan Dong, in terms of creating rich content and experience in the metaverse, HTC Vive has continuously invested in the field of IP content and created a series of rich content on VIVEPORT. For example, it cooperated with Japanese teacher Yamamoto Osamu on "Cat Art Museum", which brought innovative modes to users' online exhibition experience; it launched the world's first holographic music metaverse BEATDAY, creating holographic concerts and holographic MVs for musicians, etc., so that users can deeply feel the charm of the combination of art and technology. In addition, the VIVE Sync App, which enjoys free sharing in the virtual world, also uses the real-time audio and video technology provided by SoundNet. The low-latency interactive experience will create a perfect remote collaboration tool for users.

Yuan Dong also introduced several new products recently launched by HTC Vive at the event. He pointed out that in addition to hardware, the Metaverse should bring diversified immersive experiences, but the threshold for experiencing these contents is actually not low. In the future, VIVEPORT will also introduce more developers and high-quality content to provide users with the best and most complete services and experiences.

Wang Yumin of Haolin Technology: Smart communities enable better connections between objects, people and scenarios

In the field of smart communities, Wang Yumin believes that the rapid expansion of cities has led to insufficient demand for communities or community practitioners, and there will be great business opportunities for smart hardware in related vertical fields.

Wang Yumin, General Manager of Beijing Haolin Technology

Wang Yumin introduced, "We have always hoped to make living better and build sustainable and eco-friendly smart communities." Smart communities are hotly discussing "5G new infrastructure" to empower smart cities. At the forefront of new infrastructure, Haolin builds the entire business barrier and scenarios based on the pain points faced by the to G and to B ends, so as to provide good to B and to C services. On the to C side, Haolin wants to provide more convenient and affordable life services for community owners, including scenarios such as living, payment, notification, voting, and repair.

Tian Longqiang, Amazon Web Services: Smart homes are now widely used, but data barriers still need to be broken

Tian Longqiang cited IDC's data reports and research reports from other research institutions and said that in recent years, smart homes have solved problems in many aspects such as ease of use, cost-effectiveness and product support, and have become popular.

Tian Longqiang, Senior Manager of IoT Ecosystem Cooperation at Amazon Web Services

However, Tian Longqiang believes that product and scenario applicability are still the core issues for the current commercial implementation of AIoT. Currently, there are fragmentation problems between manufacturers, countries, and even between industry IoT. However, in the context of 5G, it is ultimately through the level of interaction that the implementation and interoperability of the entire AIoT technology can be driven.

How 5G, XR, and real-time interaction build the Metaverse

Hou Yunyi, Yuan Dong, Chuanghuan Technology CEO Chen Jian, Rokid AR software development director Yang Jian, Augmented World Expo Asia executive director Hu Lin and other big names participated in the discussion on the development trend of the metaverse and made certain predictions.

Hu Lin is very optimistic about the future development potential of the XR industry, and said that real-time interaction plays an indispensable role in creating an immersive experience. Yang Jian, head of Rokid AR software development, believes that XR gives users a lot of room for imagination, many giants have entered the market, and the industry faces many opportunities and challenges, but real-time interaction is the most basic construction and infrastructure.

Yuan Dong believes that it was difficult to imagine how rich the functions of smartphones will be in the future. The same is true for VR. The scenes in the future will exceed everyone's imagination, and many scenes will be reflected in virtual form. Chen Jian, CEO of Chuanghuan Technology, pointed out that real-time interaction is the blood vessel of the metaverse, and data is the blood. In the metaverse, technology, hardware, and application scenarios will promote each other, continue to derive, and change into more possibilities.

AIoT accelerates commercialization, and real-time interaction may become a catalyst for development

When talking about the commercialization and future development of AloT, Tian Longqiang pointed out that under the influence of the epidemic and the chip shortage, more and more people from different industries have participated in the AloT track, which has accelerated the commercialization to a certain extent. In addition, real-time interconnection and interaction are inevitable trends, and low latency can solve the user experience problem.

Jiang Wuming, CTO of Yanshen Technology, pointed out that the biggest challenge is the data fragmentation and data silos in the industry. There is still a lack of relevant organizations and industry standards in the industry to provide a space for data to be connected. Chen Junping, general manager of Deep Eyes Technology, said that interoperability is a long-term thing. From the perspective of the automotive field, it is expected that in five years, it will be truly realized that people, cars and life will be integrated into one.

Li Ting, senior brand manager of Agora, concluded, "I believe that with the innovation and development of technologies such as 5G and AI, the combination of the IoT industry and RTE will generate more abundant gameplay and innovative scenarios in the future, bringing changes to people's daily life, office, production and other aspects."