Sowing institutional knowledge across the industrial metaverse

An inexperienced worker shows up at an industrial jobsite. The equipment is unfamiliar, and so are the problems that need to be fixed.

But instead of calling in a senior technician to explain the task at hand, the worker grabs a tablet, or a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headset and enters a digital twin of the worksite – a metaverse environment where information about equipment specifications, operators, and projects can be visualized in 3D.

The information may still be overwhelming at first, however. That’s when an AI agent synthesizes the data with real-time sensor inputs that track worksite events and conditions and guides the worker step-by-step through the repair.

The result: Fewer errors, less stress, and a faster resolution.

That’s the future envisioned by Hitachi researchers, who have successfully brought agentic AI to the company’s Worksite-Augmenting Metaverse. The agent, Frontline Coordinator – Naivy (or simply “Naivy”) – is aimed at both improving efficiency and reducing the “psychological burden” on inexperienced workers in frontline operations.

The tool is still in research and development (R&D), but in testing, Naivy helped a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer improve the performance of inexperienced workers on facility management tasks by around 30%. In the trial, Naivy was also effective at alleviating the associated stress of young workers.

“Hitachi’s ultimate goal with Worksite-Augmenting Metaverse and Naivy is to create innovative work styles for frontline workers,” says Takayuki Fujiwara, chief researcher at Hitachi’s Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center. “This will help ensure that society can continue to thrive and progress despite the ongoing decline in the labor force.”

The intersection of AI and XR

Across the globe, governments are struggling to maintain and manage social infrastructure like roads, bridges, utilities, and public facilities.

For example, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives U.S. infrastructure a “C” grade in its 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. That’s actually an improvement over recent years, but the organization forecasts a $3.7 trillion infrastructure funding gap through 2033.

Along with funding and deferred maintenance, demographics present a challenge for updating social infrastructure. According to the World Health Organization, the share of the world’s population over 60 years will nearly double between 2015 and 2050, from 12% to 22%. This means that experienced laborers will be retiring in droves, with fewer young workers coming up to replace them.

Fujiwara sees the technologies behind Worksite-Augmenting Metaverse and Naivy (a portmanteau of “navigation” and “AI”) helping to bridge this gap, not only for social infrastructure, but also in industrial fields such as manufacturing, energy, and logistics. “I feel a great sense of fulfillment in leveraging Worksite-Augmenting Metaverse and Naivy to address diverse challenges across various fields—such as energy, mobility, and connective industries—under one common concept,” he says.

The combination of XR (eXtended Reality) and AI is uniquely suited to help guide workers at industrial sites, Fujiwara notes. While the hype around XR use cases like gaming and social media has largely died down from its peak several years ago, Fujiwara calls the metaverse an “immersive virtual environment” that lends itself to industrial uses like training, simulation, and rapid communication. “Workers can learn the process of manufacturing, driving, inspection, and even surgery in virtual environments,” he says. “The metaverse can represent complex simulated results, making them easier to grasp. And stakeholders can interact and share information instantly, regardless of their physical location.”

By layering AI on top of metaverse technologies, Fujiwara says, researchers can enhance these benefits and improve efficiency, increase automation, and expand analysis capabilities in industrial environments. For example, AI can be used to identify and alert teams to hazardous actions in real time, accelerate quality inspections, and optimize workflows by automating repetitive tasks.

“By integrating AI with the metaverse, AI not only analyzes situations, but also presents critical information and supports users with intuitive three-dimensional direction,” Fujiwara says. “In other words, the real world can be reproduced virtually in the metaverse. AI can understand the synchronized situation and show appropriate direction to users.”

Tapping into the immersive qualities of the metaverse

Hitachi’s vision for XR and AI at industrial worksites is already moving from the lab into the field. The company’s R&D team has launched several proof-of-concept projects across several industries, including facilities management, transportation, energy, and manufacturing.

Fujiwara says the combination of Worksite-Augmenting Metaverse and Naivy has led to enhanced training, with AI creating XR content and support tailored to users’ specific levels to improve their understanding. By offering context-aware assistance, he adds, the technologies can improve operational and maintenance support. Ultimately, Fujiwara notes, the tools help build consensus among diverse stakeholders, since everyone on a team has access to the same 3D environments.

In a railway maintenance pilot, for example, the solutions helped operators coordinate data including maintenance manuals, reports, and images, allowing users to quickly identify the parts needed for maintenance tasks. In an energy pilot, the technology helped identify potential risks in ways that were easily understood by users. And in a logistics pilot, the tools allowed novice workers to operate factory inspections.

“These initiatives demonstrate how combining AI’s reasoning capabilities with the immersive qualities of the metaverse can deliver practical benefits—reducing downtime, improving safety, and ensuring resilient operations,” Fujiwara says.

While Worksite-Augmenting Metaverse and Naivy aren’t yet available for commercial use, Fujiwara notes that this sort of real-world research is needed to push technology forward. “Hitachi has real-world operational sites,” he says. “We have IT experts specializing in areas such as AI, as well as OT experts with deep knowledge of design, manufacturing, operation, and maintenance in fields like energy, mobility, and connective industries. This allows us to work together to solve challenges.”

“Having both IT and OT specialists within the same company who can engage in deep discussions and collaborate closely is rare,” Fujiwara adds. “We believe this is a unique strength of Hitachi.”

For more, visit: Research & Development: Hitachi

And for more Hitachi AI perspectives, visit AI Resource Center – Hitachi Digital

Hitachi Research & Development – Based on its corporate mission to “contribute to society through the development of superior, original technology and products,” Hitachi is further evolving its Social Innovation Business for a sustainable society using Digital, Green, and Innovation, as means to resolve challenges and drive growth. In these efforts, the Research & Development Group is focused on driving innovation through digital, making full use of the technology platforms and know-how it has developed and accumulated for its various business domains.