MTR Metaverse Future Station Facility Creation Competition (8/2023-9/2023)

Introduction

My friend and I designed and built a innovative Multi-Function Gate System as our entry for the MTR Metaverse Future Station Facility Creation Competition. This initiative was organized by the MTR Corporation (Mass Transit Railway), Hong Kong's rail operator renowned for its world-class safety, reliability, and efficiency in connecting communities. The competition aimed to harness the creativity of youth, encouraging high school students like us to observe daily railway operations, identify passenger needs, and design futuristic facilities for the MTR's virtual platform.

Our project was conceived for the MTR Metaverse, a pioneering virtual space launched by the MTR Corporation within The Sandbox platform, making it the first global transport operator to embark on such a Web3 initiative. The metaverse is an immersive, digital universe where users can interact, create, and play within a persistent virtual environment.

Awardee List

Photo of MTR's Metaverse Station

Concept of Metaverse

Concept

Submission: Multi-Function Gate System

Description: Equipped with an electronic nose (e-Nose Sensor) and biosensors, it can detect malodors, flammable substances, harmful bacteria/chemicals, intoxicated (alcohol) passengers, etc.

Disinfection and deodorization are achieved through far ultraviolet light and natural deodorant dispensers (tested and proven harmless to humans).

Expandable to detect whether passengers are carrying prohibited items (e.g., explosive, flammable, volatile; toxic, poisonous, corrosive, or radioactive substances), passengers with elevated body temperature during pandemics, and dangerous passengers (via facial recognition).

Why are we using this design?
Due to Hong Kong’s humid weather, sweating can sometimes lead to unpleasant odors.

Improve indoor air quality in train compartments
Reduce cleaning efforts
Decrease the spread of infectious viruses
Prevent dangerous incidents
Enhance MTR safety

We used VoxEdit, the official voxel asset creation tool for The Sandbox metaverse, to build and animate our station design. The process involved constructing the 3D model with volumetric pixels ("voxels"), adding a digital skeleton to each moving part, and then using the software's timeline to create keyframe animations. This brought our Multi-Function Gate System to life, allowing us to showcase its operations: gates opening, sensors scanning, and disinfectant mechanisms activating.

More photos

My sincere thanks to Hayden and Ms Ip. This achievement would not have been possible without our shared effort and belief in this project.