I want to walk you thru this argument:

Let's assume digital and physical are two separate realms, with native and foreign entities living there. Digital-native entities are software, and physical-native entities are carbon-based creatures. What if these entities move from digital to physical or vice versa?

When you have software embodied in the physical realm, we call it a robot. A robot is not a native being in the physical sphere and belongs to the digital domain. In other words, a robot is not native to the physical world we live in. 

Now you have the flesh and blood humans as embodied creatures that belong to the physical world. Then you put them into digital forms via Avatars and send them to the digital world. So now, humans are represented as a piece of code in the digital realm.

That was all. Robots to meatspace are what humans are to the metaverse.