The hype around the metaverse fizzled out, but its core technologies, like real-time 3D modeling, simulation and synthetic environments, have found practical use in manufacturing, particularly through digital twins. Amazon Devices & Services, in collaboration with Nvidia, for example, is rolling out “zero-touch manufacturing” powered by Nvidia AI and digital twin simulations. The concept sounds deceptively simple and entails robots that can learn to assemble and inspect new products without ever touching a single prototype. Robotic arms can now rely on photorealistic replicas of a factory floor where every movement is modeled, tested and optimized in software. By combining synthetic data, AI-driven planning and physics-based simulations, the companies said they can cut prototyping costs, slash lead times, and push more devices into production faster using robotic arms. A robotic arm can be trained to assemble a fragile part virtually, learning thousands of variations overnight in Nvidia’s servers. Synthetic data generated in Omniverse teaches the AI how to respond to edge cases like a slightly warped component, a misaligned feeder or a sudden change in torque. When the real robot is finally tasked with assembly, it arrives with “experience” accumulated in a risk-free virtual environment. The result is fewer prototypes, less scrap and faster scaling from pilot runs to mass production.