Submit to Electronics Review for Electronics Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Metaverse and Digital Twins

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Related Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Science & Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 77312

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yiyu Cai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Interests: virtual reality; augmented reality; serious games; simulation; computer-aided design; bio- and medical sciences; smart cities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Xiaoqun Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business Univeristy, Beijing 100048, China
Interests: computer graphics; digital geometry processing; virtual/augmented reality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Qi Cao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, Singapore 567739, Singapore
Interests: virtual reality; augmented reality; data analytics; computational intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Xiao Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Transmedia School, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, Guangzhou, China
Interests: digital museum; virtual reality; augmented reality; digital media
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Metaverse is in the spotlight of 2021. On 26 October, Facebook was rebranded with Meta following the announcement by the company CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. On 2 November, Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, showcased his company's foray into the Metaverse. On 9 November, NVIDIA CEO, Jensen Huang, demonstrated Omniverse during the GTC annual conference.

Evolving from VR, AR, and MR, Metaverse is going to penetrate virtually everything and everywhere from home to school to office. This is a timely Special Issue devoted to Metaverse and Digital Twins focusing on fundamental research and application development. Papers published in this Special Issue will discuss and share the outcomes of fundamental research, novel use cases, and applications of Metaverse and Digital Twins. These include algorithms, methodologies, and techniques in Metaverse and Digital Twins. Papers on the design and development of Metaverse and Digital Twins systems for various applications will be of interest to this Special Issue as well. For this Special Issue, prospective authors are invited to submit their research findings on state-of-the-art reviews, novel ideas, theoretical frameworks, practical analysis, and innovative applications of Metaverse and Digital Twins in relevant fields. It aims to stimulate future interdisciplinary research and the development of Metaverse and Digital Twins. All submitted papers must be original and must not have been submitted for consideration for possible publication with other journals or conferences.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

General Topic of Metaverse and Digital Twins
1. Frameworks of Metaverse and Digital Twins
2. Metaverse and Digital Twins in real-time systems
3. Modelling and simulation of Metaverse and Digital Twins
Science and Technology for VR/AR and digital twins
1. AI solutions for Metaverse and Digital Twins
2. Cloud/edge computing for VR/AR and digital twins
3. Hardware and software for VR/AR and digital twins
4. VR/AR and digital twins in IoT and smart cities
Metaverse and Digital Twins for Engineering
1. Metaverse and Digital Twins for Industry 4.0
2. Metaverse and Digital Twins for smart manufacturing
3. Metaverse and Digital Twins for construction and building
4. Metaverse and Digital Twins for processing, maintenance, and optimization
Metaverse and Digital Twins for Cultural Heritage
1. Metaverse and Digital Twins for the conservation of cultural heritage
2. Metaverse and Digital Twins for the exhibition of cultural heritage
3. Metaverse and Digital Twins for cultural industries
Metaverse and Digital Twins for Art
1. Metaverse and Digital Twins for fine art
2. Metaverse and Digital Twins for media art
3. Metaverse and Digital Twins for folk art
4. Metaverse and Digital Twins for art design
5. Metaverse and Digital Twins for art exhibition

Prof. Dr. Yiyu Cai
Prof. Dr. Xiaoqun Wu
Prof. Dr. Qi Cao
Prof. Dr. Xiao Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality
digital twins
metaverse
Industry 4.0
internet of things
smart cities
cultural heritage
art

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Metaverse and Digital Twins, 2nd Edition in Electronics (13 articles)

Published Papers (14 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review, Other

19 pages, 4861 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digital Twin Haptic Robotic Arms: Towards Handshakes in the Metaverse

by Mohd Faisal, Fedwa Laamarti and Abdulmotaleb El Saddik

Electronics 2023, 12(12), 2603; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12122603 - 9 Jun 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3084

Abstract

More daily interactions are happening in the digital world of the metaverse. Providing individuals with means to perform a handshake during these interactions can enhance the overall user experience. In this paper, we put forward the design and implementation of two right-handed underactuated Digital Twin robotic arms to mediate the physical handshake interaction between two individuals. This allows them to perform a handshake while they are in separate locations. The experimental findings are very promising as our evaluation shows that the participants were highly interested in using our system to shake hands with their loved ones when they are physically separated. With this Digital Twin robotic arms system, we also found a correlation between the handshake characteristics and personality traits of the participants from the handshake data collected during the experiment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2062 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vertex Chunk-Based Object Culling Method for Real-Time Rendering in Metaverse

by Eun-Seok Lee and Byeong-Seok Shin

Electronics 2023, 12(12), 2601; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12122601 - 9 Jun 2023

Viewed by 2697

Abstract

Famous content using the Metaverse concept allows users to freely place objects in a world space without constraints. To render various high-resolution objects placed by users in real-time, various algorithms exist, such as view frustum culling, visibility culling and occlusion culling. These algorithms selectively remove objects outside the camera’s view and eliminate an object that is too small to render. However, these methods require additional operations to select objects to cull, which can slowdown the rendering speed in a world scene with massive number of objects. This paper introduces an object-culling technique using vertex chunk to render a massive number of objects in real-time. This method compresses the bounding boxes of objects into data units called vertex chunks to reduce input data for rendering passes, and utilizes GPU parallel processing to quickly restore the data and select culled objects. This method redistributes the bottleneck that occurred in the Object’s validity determination from the GPU to the CPU, allowing for the rendering of massive objects. Previously, the existing methods performed all the object validity checks on the GPU. Therefore, it can efficiently reduce the computation time of previous methods. The experimental results showed an improvement in performance of about 15%, and it showed a higher effect when multiple objects were placed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 2036 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gamified Learning and Assessment Using ARCS with Next-Generation AIoMT Integrated 3D Animation and Virtual Reality Simulation

by Abhishek Kumar, Abdul Khader Jilani Saudagar, Mohammed Alkhathami, Badr Alsamani, Muhammad Badruddin Khan, Mozaherul Hoque Abul Hasanat, Zakir Hussain Ahmed, Ankit Kumar and Bhavana Srinivasan

Electronics 2023, 12(4), 835; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12040835 - 7 Feb 2023

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4417

Abstract

In higher education institutions (HEI), particularly in biology and medical education, the use of 3D animation, virtual reality, and simulation offers great potential in terms of enhancing learning and engaging students. Higher education researchers are still investigating virtual reality’s possibilities and outcomes in various fields. This study focuses on the effects of 3D gamification using an Artificial Intelligence integrated Internet of Medical Things (AIoMT) implemented with virtual reality application for biology and medical students to learn about the human brain. Nowadays, both theoretical and practical education frequently incorporate virtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual tours of the human body’s systems are offered to biology students so that they may comprehend such systems’ functions. This study focuses on the use of 3D animation, virtual reality, and simulation in medical education, with a specific focus on the effects of a 3D gamification app using the Internet of Medical Things (AIoMT) on medical professionals’ passion for learning. This study uses the ARCS model and SEM analysis to examine the impact of virtual reality on students’ motivation and learning. The results show that virtual reality positively impacts motivation and the understanding of the concept-to-execution process through practice and simulation-based training. To assess how well students are learning, what they are analyzing, and how well they can understand the objects of analysis, a 3D-simulation-based and user-feedback-based design has been developed using the proposed research methodology. According to this article’s findings, a smartphone app that uses virtual reality can help medical professionals better understand the concept-to-execution process through practice. VR simulation-based training, as well as Biology teachers or medical colleges, can offer high-definition 3D VR models rather than organs in jars to understand the human anatomy and its functions more experientially and effectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 5133 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Non-Rigid Point Cloud Matching Based on Invariant Structure for Face Deformation

by Ying Li, Dongdong Weng and Junyu Chen

Electronics 2023, 12(4), 828; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12040828 - 6 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2366

Abstract

In this paper, we present a non-rigid point cloud matching method based on an invariant structure for face deformation. Our work is guided by the realistic needs of 3D face reconstruction and re-topology, which critically need support for calculating the correspondence between deformable models. Our paper makes three main contributions: First, we propose an approach to normalize the global structure features of expressive faces using texture space properties, which decreases the variation magnitude of facial landmarks. Second, we make a modification to the traditional shape context descriptor to solve the problem of regional cross-mismatch. Third, we collect a dataset with various expressions. Ablation studies and comparative experiments were conducted to investigate the performance of the above work. In face deformable cases, our method achieved 99.89% accuracy on our homemade face dataset, showing superior performance over some other popular algorithms. In this way, it can help modelers to build digital humans more easily based on the estimated correspondence of facial landmarks, saving a lot of manpower and time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 4189 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Designing Immersive Virtual Reality Simulation for Environmental Science Education

by Yongjoo Cho and Kyoung Shin Park

Electronics 2023, 12(2), 315; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12020315 - 7 Jan 2023

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 11272

Abstract

Recently, severe environmental changes, such as global warming, climate change and environmental pollution, have become expected, and thus environmental education is becoming essential. The purpose of environmental education is to instill awareness in students to recognize and solve environmental problems. Virtual reality provides students with a spatial and temporal experience similar to reality, and it can increase their understanding of knowledge through immersion and interaction compared to traditional learning. In previous studies, virtual reality for education has mainly focused on experience, but it is difficult to find examples for environmental education. Hence, this research proposed an immersive virtual reality simulation for environmental education based on the virtual ecosystem model. It also presented two applications developed based on this simulation. This research aims at encouraging students’ active participation and motivation to solve the environmental problems while experiencing the results of interaction related to environmental factors in a virtual environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 5778 KiB

Open AccessArticle

HoloVein—Mixed-Reality Venipuncture Aid via Convolutional Neural Networks and Semi-Supervised Learning

by Kian Wei Ng, Mohammad Shaheryar Furqan, Yujia Gao, Kee Yuan Ngiam and Eng Tat Khoo

Electronics 2023, 12(2), 292; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12020292 - 6 Jan 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3168

Abstract

Attaining venous access is a common requirement for clinical care worldwide, with a non-negligible portion of cases often being categorized as ‘difficult intravenous access’. Such complications result in far-reaching consequences affecting clinicians and patients alike. We propose a mixed-reality-based vein detection and visual guidance system that provides several key advantages, including a wider field of view, flexible operating distance, and hands-free, intuitive usage compared to existing solutions. A semi-supervised learning approach was used in model training to circumvent dataset availability limitations. Quantitative evaluation showed that the semi-supervised approach improved vein detection performance and temporal consistency. The system was also implemented and trialed in a clinical setting to assess real-world usability. Initial, preliminary assessment of HoloVein by medical professionals in a clinical setting showed improvements in detection quality using the semi-supervised approach over the baseline model. This result was deemed to be promising from a clinical perspective and could set the stage for more widespread mixed-reality venipuncture guidance tools in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1984 KiB

Open AccessArticle

GN-CNN: A Point Cloud Analysis Method for Metaverse Applications

by Qian Sun, Yueran Xu, Yidan Sun, Changhua Yao, Jeannie Su Ann Lee and Kan Chen

Electronics 2023, 12(2), 273; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12020273 - 5 Jan 2023

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2646

Abstract

Metaverse applications often require many new 3D point cloud models that are unlabeled and that have never been seen before; this limited information results in difficulties for data-driven model analyses. In this paper, we propose a novel data-driven 3D point cloud analysis network GN-CNN that is suitable for such scenarios. We tackle the difficulties with a few-shot learning (FSL) approach by proposing an unsupervised generative adversarial network GN-GAN to generate prior knowledge and perform warm start pre-training for GN-CNN. Furthermore, the 3D models in the Metaverse are mostly acquired with a focus on the models’ visual appearances instead of the exact positions. Thus, conceptually, we also propose to augment the information by unleashing and incorporating local variance information, which conveys the appearance of the model. This is realized by introducing a graph convolution-enhanced combined multilayer perceptron operation (CMLP), namely GCMLP, to capture the local geometric relationship as well as a local normal-aware GeoConv, namely GNConv. The GN-GAN adopts an encoder–decoder structure and the GCMLP is used as the core operation of the encoder. It can perform the reconstruction task. The GNConv is used as the convolution-like operation in GN-CNN. The classification performance of GN-CNN is evaluated on ModelNet10 with an overall accuracy of 95.9%. Its few-shot learning performance is evaluated on ModelNet40, when the training set size is reduced to 30%, the overall classification accuracy can reach 91.8%, which is 2.5% higher than Geo-CNN. Experiments show that the proposed method could improve the accuracy in 3D point cloud classification tasks and under few-shot learning scenarios, compared with existing methods such as PointNet, PointNet++, DGCNN, and Geo-CNN, making it a beneficial method for Metaverse applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 6099 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Information and Communication Technologies Combined with Mixed Reality as Supporting Tools in Medical Education

by Agnieszka Pregowska, Magdalena Osial, Damian Dolega-Dolegowski, Radek Kolecki and Klaudia Proniewska

Electronics 2022, 11(22), 3778; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11223778 - 17 Nov 2022

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 5211

Abstract

The dynamic COVID-19 pandemic has destabilized education and forced academic centers to explore non-traditional teaching modalities. A key challenge this creates is in reconciling the fact that hands-on time in lab settings has been shown to increase student understanding and peak their interests. Traditional visualization methods are already limited and topics such as 3D molecular structures remain difficult to understand. This is where advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), including remote meetings, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Extended Reality (XR, so-called Metaverse) offer vast potential to revolutionize the education landscape. Specifically, how MR merges real and virtual life in a uniquely promising way and offers opportunities for entirely new educational applications. In this paper, we briefly overview and report our initial experience using MR to teach medical and pharmacy students. We also explore the future usefulness of MR in pharmacy education. MR mimics real-world experiences both in distance education and traditional laboratory classes. We also propose ICT-based systems designed to run on the Microsoft HoloLens2 MR goggles and can be successfully applied in medical and pharmacy coursework. The models were developed and implemented in Autodesk Maya and exported to Unity. Our findings demonstrate that MR-based solutions can be an excellent alternative to traditional classes, notably in medicine, anatomy, organic chemistry, and biochemistry (especially 3D molecular structures), in both remote and traditional in-person teaching modalities. MR therefore has the potential to become an integral part of medical education in both remote learning and in-person study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 4361 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metaverse for Cultural Heritages

by Xiao Zhang, Deling Yang, Cheun Hoe Yow, Lihui Huang, Xiaoqun Wu, Xijun Huang, Jia Guo, Shujun Zhou and Yiyu Cai

Electronics 2022, 11(22), 3730; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11223730 - 14 Nov 2022

Cited by 72 | Viewed by 9468

Abstract

The metaverse has gained popularity recently in many areas including social media, healthcare, education and manufacturing. This work explores the use of the metaverse concept for cultural heritage applications. The motivation is to develop a systematic approach for the construction of a cultural heritage metaverse and to offer, potentially, more effective solutions for tourism guidance, site maintenance, heritage object conservation, etc. We propose a framework for this cultural heritage metaverse with an emphasis on fundamental elements and on characterization of the mapping between the physical and virtual cultural heritage worlds. Efforts are made to analyze the dimensional structures of the cultural heritage metaverse. Specifically, five different dimensions, linearity, planarity, space, time and context, are discussed to better understand this metaverse. The proposed framework and methodology are novel and can be applied to the digitalization of cultural heritage via its metaverse development. This is followed by a detailed case study to illustrate the tangible procedure, constructing a cultural heritage metaverse with a complex and dynamic nature which can be used for different applications, including heritage conservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 5550 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Intelligent Fault Detection in Hall-Effect Rotary Encoders for Industry 4.0 Applications

by Ritik Agarwal, Ghanishtha Bhatti, R. Raja Singh, V. Indragandhi, Vishnu Suresh, Laura Jasinska and Zbigniew Leonowicz

Electronics 2022, 11(21), 3633; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11213633 - 7 Nov 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3482

Abstract

Sensors are the foundational components of any smart machine system and are invaluable in all modern technologies. Consequently, faults and errors in sensors can have a significant negative impact on the setup. Intelligent, lightweight, and accurate fault diagnosis and mitigation lie at the crux of modern industries. This study aimed to conceptualize a germane solution in the domain of fault detection, focusing on Hall-effect rotary encoders. Position monitoring through rotary encoders is essential to the safety and seamless functioning of industrial equipment such as lifts and hoists, and commercial systems such as automobiles. This work used multi-strategy learners to accurately diagnose quadrature and offset faults in Hall-effect rotary encoders. The obtained dataset was then run through a lightweight ensemble classifier to train a robust fault detection model. The complete mechanism was simulated through interconnected models simulated in a MATLAB Simulink™ environment. In real time, the developed fault detection algorithm was embedded in an FPGA controller and tested with a 1 kW PMSM drive system. The resulting system is computationally inexpensive and achieves an accuracy of 95.8%, making it a feasible solution for industrial implementation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 4550 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Serious Game for VR Road Crossing in Special Needs Education

by Qi Peng Tan, Lihui Huang, Di Xu, Yigang Cen and Qi Cao

Electronics 2022, 11(16), 2568; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11162568 - 17 Aug 2022

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4188

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can impair communication, social skills, living skills, and learning capabilities. Learning approaches usually differ between mainstream schools and special needs schools, to cater for the different learning processes of children with ASD. Besides the traditional classroom-based education, alternative technology and methods are explored for special needs education. One method is to train children with ASD using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. Many prior works show the effectiveness of VR-based learning with varying degrees of success. Some children with ASD may face challenges to gain independent living skills. Their parents or guardians have to expend a significant amount of effort in taking care of children with ASD. It will be very helpful if they can have a learning opportunity to gain such living skills. In this research, we develop a VR serious game to train children with ASD one of the basic living skills for road crossing safely. The VR serious game operates on multiple types of platforms, with various user interaction inputs including the Microsoft Kinect sensor, keyboard, mouse, and touch screen. The game design and methodology will be described in this paper. Experiments have been conducted to evaluate the learning effectiveness of the road crossing game, with very positive results achieved in the quiz and survey questionnaire after the gameplay. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 310 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metaverse Framework: A Case Study on E-Learning Environment (ELEM)

by Neama A. Dahan, Muna Al-Razgan, Ali Al-Laith, Muaadh A. Alsoufi, Mahfoudh S. Al-Asaly and Taha Alfakih

Electronics 2022, 11(10), 1616; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11101616 - 19 May 2022

Cited by 122 | Viewed by 12702

Abstract

Metaverse is a vast term that can contain every digital thing in the future. Therefore, life domains, such as learning and education, should have their systems redirected to adopt this topic to keep their availability and longevity. Many papers have discussed the metaverse, the applications to run on, and the historical progress to have the metaverse the way it is today. However, the framework of the metaverse itself is still unclear, and its components cannot be exactly specified. Although E-Learning systems are a need that has developed over the years along with technology, the structures of the available E-Learning systems based on the metaverse are either not well described or are adopted, in their best case, as just a 3D environment. In this paper, we examine some previous works to find out the special technologies that should be provided by the metaverse framework, then we discuss the framework of the metaverse if applied as an E-Learning environment framework. This will make it easy to develop future metaverse-based applications, as the proposed framework will make the virtual learning environments work smoothly on the metaverse. In addition, E-Learning will be a more interactive and pleasant process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research, Other

15 pages, 1475 KiB

Open AccessReview

Improving Humanization through Metaverse-Related Technologies: A Systematic Review

by Maria Gonzalez-Moreno, Paula Andrade-Pino, Carlos Monfort-Vinuesa, Antonio Piñas-Mesa and Esther Rincon

Electronics 2023, 12(7), 1727; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12071727 - 5 Apr 2023

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3743

Abstract

While there is an increasing awareness regarding the culture of humanization, which is strongly needed in the healthcare environment, little knowledge has been provided in relation to accurate strategies to teach humanization skills to healthcare undergraduate students, as well as to healthcare professionals. Furthermore, the usefulness of new technologies to improve humanization skills has hardly been addressed so far in the scientific literature, including promising strategies such as Metaverse-related technologies. Presumably, this is the first systematic review focused on the efficacy of Metaverse-related technologies to increase the acquisition of humanization skills in the healthcare environment. The purpose of this study was to review the scientific studies published in the last decade to answer the following two questions: (1) are Metaverse-related technologies useful in enhancing humanization skills in the healthcare environment? (2) What are the advantages and disadvantages that should be addressed to successfully develop Metaverse-related technologies in the healthcare sector? We conducted a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature from EBSCO, Ovid, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (WOS), following the PRISMA statements and using the following keywords: “humanization + Metaverse”; “humanization + mixed reality”; “humanization + extended reality”; “humanization + augmented reality”; “humanization + virtual reality”; “humanization + app”; “humanization + telemedicine”; “humanization + digital health”; “humanization + eHealth”; “humanization + telehealth”; “humanization + web-based”; “humanization + website”; “humanization + digital”; “humanization + online”; and “humanization + internet”. Studies published from 2012 to the present, written in the English language, were reviewed. A total of 505 records were obtained, of which three were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results will be helpful in developing new strategies to improve humanization skills in the health sphere. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research, Review

16 pages, 753 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Mixed Reality in Undergraduate Mental Health Education: A Systematic Review

by Esther Rincon, Irene Rodriguez-Guidonet, Paula Andrade-Pino and Carlos Monfort-Vinuesa

Electronics 2023, 12(4), 1019; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12041019 - 18 Feb 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4233

Abstract

The landscape of Extended Reality (ER), which includes Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) is rapidly changing. However, despite the promising results from many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) developed on healthcare environments, there is a lack of standardization, specifically to determine their effectiveness in academic settings. To our best knowledge, this is the first systematic review addressing the efficacy of MR to enhance learning and skills acquisition in undergraduate mental health education. The purposes of this study were to review the scientific literature of those studies involving MR and undergraduate mental health education, to answer the two following questions: (1) Is MR useful to enhance the acquisition of knowledge and skill training in undergraduate mental health education, and (2) Which are the advantages and disadvantages that should be addressed to successfully develop MR in undergraduate mental health education? We conducted a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature from EBSCO, Ovid, PubMed, and Scopus y WOS (Web of Science), following the PRISMA statements and using “mixed reality + education”, “mixed reality + student”, “mixed reality + undergraduate”, and “mixed reality + mental health”, as keywords. Those studies published between 2012 to present, in English or Spanish language, were reviewed. A total of 2608 records were retrieved, and only 6 publications met the inclusion criteria, and were finally included. MR training used was varied. There were no studies providing specific outcomes regarding the student’s acquired knowledge (theoretical concepts) after using MR. Several strengths and weaknesses of using MR with students were discussed. The results will be useful to develop innovative MR strategies to improve undergraduate mental health education, due to the lack of studies focused on this topic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metaverse and Digital Twins)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Metaverse and Digital Twins

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (14 papers)

Research

Review

Other

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI