The Internet of Behaviour (IoB) is a technology trend with significant opportunities and benefits for extended reality (XR). It adds a layer of psychology to the Internet of Things (IoT) to interpret ‘digital dust’ linked to behavioural patterns.
The ultimate goal is to connect devices, analyse user behaviour, and influence future behaviours.
Gartner predicted in 2021 that 40 percent of the world’s population will face at least one IoB programme in 2025 across verticals such as from marketing, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Here’s a deep dive into the IoB implications for virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) as well as the Metaverse in the mission to learn how humans behave in 3D experiences with six degrees of freedom (6DoF).
What is the Internet of Behaviour (IoB)?
IoB is a protocol that uses sensors to collect behavioural data from devices. In this case, it leverages VR and AR devices such as mobile and head-mounted displays (HMDs). Data is processed using cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data science to extrapolate human behaviour.
It represents the next level of business intelligence (BI) to understand and optimise behaviour. It is, therefore, a critical component of an interoperable, synchronous and persistent Metaverse with shared experiences.
Over time, predictive analytics on human behaviour in XR will drastically improve user experiences and business performance metrics.
How Does the Internet of Behaviour Work?
IoB connects AR and VR devices to cloud services like Amazon Web Services (AWS). Application programme interfaces (APIs) collect sensor data, including gyroscope, accelerometer, and other sensors, in real-time data exchanges.
Companies store data in databases and analyse them with AI algorithms to create an intelligence engine capable of understanding user behaviour patterns. 6DoF spatial data on head, hand, and body movements in 3D space is a complex dataset. However, cognitive science and significant research and development (R&D) interpret XYZ coordinates as insights which help XR businesses understand their audiences.
Our approach to the IoB tech stack is an end-to-end data analytics platform which does all the heavy lifting so customers, regardless of data analytics expertise, can quickly see data visualisations and measure performance goals.
What Are the Benefits of IoB for the XR Industry?
Industry research shows that 83 percent of XR companies think data analytics are important to growing business, but studies also highlight a measurement gap.
This is partly because AR/VR experiences generate unique and unstructured user behaviours, compared to the ‘Internet of clicks, taps and likes,’ as well as a reliance on legacy toolkits like web analytics, surveys, and others.
IoB is a new approach specifically designed to:
- collect real-time 6DoF data from platforms and devices
- quickly analyse behaviours in 3D experiences to improve performance and productivity, and
- standardise XR metrics to make predictions about future actions based on past behaviours.
From navigation, or the position, pathway, priority and order of events, to attention involving the time, sequence and priority of content viewed, there are benefits for all extended reality use cases.
How do you apply IoB to your XR business?
A low and no-code plug-in for 3D engines and XR platforms collects real-time sensor data from handsets and headsets. CORTEXR’s intelligence engine analyses 6DoF spatial data in the cloud using AI and cognitive science.
Prebuilt dashboards present performance metrics and data visualisations across all your AR, VR and Metaverse projects. Our Unity plug-in is now live so users can easily add IoB to projects.
The IoB is a new framework to better understand your users, identify behaviours which aren’t necessarily obvious, and improve business performance. It’s a great diagnostic tool and is also proven to be predictive of behaviour.
What Are the Opportunities for IoB and XR?
Whilst other sectors have been applying IoB to digital marketing, IoT, location services, and other key focuses over the next few years, the opportunity for the XR industry is still nascent.
CORTEXR launched it solution to address this knowledge gap in order to understand human behaviour in XR through the lens of psychology and cognitive science. The solution covers verticals such as healthcare, entertainment, education, and training, where customers can tap into a wealth of spatial data.
Users can learn key analytics in use cases such as determining how health conditions like dementia correlate with spatial diagnostics or how eCommerce virtual try-ons correspond with purchase intent. People can also gain clear insights into how training module behaviours correspond with learning attainment.
What are the data privacy concerns of IoB?
Data privacy is, quite rightly, a crucial debate for the broader tech industry. People are familiar with synchronising their devices and granting permissions. However, biometric fingerprints of faces and eyes are particularly intrusive, and tech company practices in digital marketing require government regulation from frameworks such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
XR and IoB are, therefore, vulnerable to ethical questions about how data is collected and used at a scale. CORTEXR has a policy of deliberately avoiding Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Raw data on 6DoF behaviour doesn’t collect PII — basic device IDs only measure user numbers and restricts GPS data to guarantee anonymity. Users do not want or need PII data to deliver our XR data analytics services.
