T-Mobile, DT aim to uncover retail metaverse technologies

T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom want to push the boundaries of retail shopping at their stores. So they’re conducting a challenge among young companies to garner new ideas related to virtual stores and next-gen retail products. And there are some interesting ideas among the finalists.
 
T-Mobile US and T-Labs, Deutsche Telekom’s research and development unit, launched T-Challenge in October. It’s a worldwide competition for startups, developers and designers to showcase innovative ideas for how 5G networks and extended reality (XR) technology can transform the retail industry.
Many of the finalists are using augmented reality (AR) technology, and their solutions could be described as “Metaverse” ideas.

One of the more “out-there” technologies comes from a Seoul, Korea-based company called DeepBrain AI. The company creates digital avatars that have the same appearance, voice, accent and behavioral movement as real people. Its technology has already been deployed at an unmanned 7-Eleven convenience store. Although this digital-twin of an actual human being has limited scope, it can inform customers about methods of payment, products and discounts, and general inquiries.

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