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Digital Twin

Eliminating Workplace Injury with Digital Twins and Virtual Reality

The machines, technology, and equipment that keep industries running smoothly need a continual flow of talent to improve and operate efficiently. When that equipment is large, dangerous, or mistake-intolerant, workplace training injuries can become both a safety hazard and an obstacle to learning. The answer to maximizing productivity while eliminating injury comes from two unique solutions: digital twins and virtual reality.

What is a Digital Twin?

An interactive schematic of a component or system, a digital twin firmly anchors a physical object in the digital realm for manipulation, simulation, and education. These files are incredibly important for training, repair, and research and development applications, allowing users to interact with builds without causing wear-and-tear or costly damage to the actual objects being serviced. Creating or developing a digital twin also allows for an unprecedented use of scale versatility, allowing engineers and support teams the ability to shrink or expand on massive structures: a “dry run” of the real process before getting expensive cranes, lifts, and heavy specialty equipment involved.

From the digital double we create from the real-world facility we then go a step further and create interactive scenarios that enable advanced learning without the need for equipment or subject matter experts on-site. Training can be done remotely via multiplayer virtual reality environments that eliminate travel expense and enhance ROI considerably for their training facilities.

TMH Core Electric Forklift Part Identification VR Training (Multiplayer)

How Do Virtual Reality and Digital Twins Ensure Safety?

Virtual reality environments allow manufacturers and maintenance professionals the ability to create a zero-risk, harm-free environment for exploring, experimenting, and learning. These two innovations work together to create a seamless wall of protection through simulation without exposure risk. Virtual reality training completely eliminates common injury causes, including but not limited to:

Extremely heavy components cause muscle or tendon stresses during lifting
Pressurized components cause spray or temperature-related (freeze/burn) injuries when dismantled
Fall injuries caused by climbing up or down large components, ladders, and lifts
Cutting or abrasion injuries caused by fumbling or misusing cutting tools
Hearing or vision damage caused by close proximity to malfunctioning systems
Potential traffic/bystander interference when working on machinery in public spaces

Risk factors like these are mitigated by controlling both the digital twin and its entire surrounding environment in virtual reality. This, in turn, gives maintenance professionals and new trainees more confidence and education in what to expect during the actual job. With enough repetition and practice, virtual reality environments in job training can even help build muscle memory more efficiently while performing real-time tasks.

A Risk-Free Version of the Worst-Case Scenario

While it’s important to prepare employees for any situation, manufacturers obviously couldn’t purposefully endanger their staff for learning purposes. With virtual reality, however, that’s no longer true. With virtual reality, the worst-case scenario is now available at the push of a button, all in a controlled setting that poses absolutely no risk to the employee, equipment, or employer.

With VR technology, even highly unlikely accidents and variables can be experienced in a 1:1 setting, ensuring that support staff knows exactly how to react if a unique situation arises in the field. Virtual reality job training can be modeled with nearly limitless variables, thanks to digital twins, to eliminate workplace injury and choice paralysis in high-stress situations, from complicating weather conditions to environmental disaster factors.

In short, virtual reality environments and digital twins, when used for training and research, help protect a company’s greatest asset: its talent. With the cost of on-the-job training injuries being so high and potential opportunity costs even higher, using these digital tools may be the best decision a company ever invests in.

Quelle:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/eliminating-workplace-injury-digital-twins-virtual-reality-apelo/?trackingId=ZjzHEiZ9a5V%252FBQwEwKdZeg%253D%253D

2. Oktober 2023 0 comment

Examples

Your Guide to Comparing Digital Twin Solutions in 2023

Comparing digital twin technologies in 2023

Interest in digital twin solutions is growing. Today’s companies, particularly across the industrial landscape, need to innovate, ideate, and evolve faster than ever before. Digital twins can give companies the technology and insights they need to transform quickly.

As a result, the current market for digital twin solutions is growing at a phenomenal CAGR of 42.6% and is expected to reach a value of $137.67 billion by 2030.

With the right solutions, companies can get their products to market faster, find new ways to optimize operations and reduce costs, and even improve the supply chain. However, finding the right solution is the key to success with digital twin technologies.

So, how do companies compare and choose the right solutions?

Step 1: Involve the Right Stakeholders

Investing in digital twin solutions will be part of a comprehensive transformation strategy for many companies. When investing in innovative new technology, involving the right stakeholders is essential. Typically, the most important stakeholders will be those who already deal with the data fed to digital twin technologies.

This could mean you collect insights from members of your supply chain, who are responsible for optimizing logistics strategies’ sustainability and efficiency. Some companies may need to implement insights from factory management teams and digital transformation experts.

Bringing the right stakeholders together will help business leaders to determine which problems they want to solve with their digital twin solutions and where potential issues might arise.

Step 2: Define Goals for Your Digital Twins

Next, companies must define precisely what they want to accomplish with digital twin solutions. Digital twin technologies can serve a variety of use cases, particularly in the age of Industry 4.0. You may want to use a digital twin to run simulation scenarios that pinpoint issues with your operations.

Alternatively, you may be looking at digital twins as an opportunity to gain a comprehensive view of business and operational systems. The data you reveal could mean you can reduce costs or unlock new revenue opportunities.

Setting goals will ensure you can find digital twin solutions with specific capabilities. Some of the most important functionalities for digital twins include:

Workflow and business process orchestration
The ability to ingest data from any source
3D and 360 photogrammetry visualization
Integrations with existing and relevant technologies
Analytical and reporting dashboards
Simulation capabilities enhanced by XR

Ensure your team is aligned on the goals you want to achieve with your digital twins. It’s also worth creating a strategy for how you’re going to monitor the results and ROI of your solutions.

Step 3: Explore Different Types of Digital Twins

One of the biggest issues companies face when implementing digital twin solutions is understanding what type of twin technology they need. There are various options available intended for specific use cases. The right solution for you will depend on your goals and operations.

Some of the most common types of digital twins available include:

Component twins: These are digital models of individual parts or components in a product or solution. They might include sensors, motors, switches, or valves. Component twins provide detailed information about the behavior and performance of a component.
Asset twins: Most asset twins are models of physical assets, such as vehicles, machines, and buildings. They offer insight into an asset’s performance data, operational status, and environmental conditions. This can help organizations reduce downtime.
System twins: Models of entire systems or processes; system twins allow companies to monitor and evaluate system performance. These twins are ideal for identifying areas where improvements can be made to processes.
Process twins: With process twins, companies collect detailed information about how customers or employees interact with products and services in real time. This can help organizations identify areas for improving customer experience.

Speak to potential vendors about the types of digital twins they can offer and the benefits they can bring to businesses in your industry.

Step 4: Plan Your Digital Twin Architecture

After defining goals and potential digital twin solutions suitable for the business, the next step is determining the architecture of the ecosystem. When comparing solutions, business leaders will need to ensure their provider or partner can offer all of the components they need.

This includes hardware components, such as the Internet of Things sensors responsible for collecting and sharing information. Hardware components can also include actuators, network devices like edge servers, IoT gateways, and routers.

A digital twin architecture will usually also include both middleware and software. Middleware platforms will handle tasks like data integration and processing, visualization, and modeling. Software components use analytical tools to transform raw observations into actionable insights for business leaders.

Step 5: Determine ROI from Each Provider

Finally, when comparing digital twin solutions, companies should consider the possible return on investment they can access from each vendor or provider. Prioritizing ROI doesn’t necessarily mean companies should always choose the cheapest solution.

Instead, companies need to think about the value they’re going to access from each vendor. Estimating the time and resources required to solve a specific problem can be helpful. This can offer an insight into how much money and time companies can save with digital twin technology.

It’s also worth looking at the value that digital twin solutions can provide. For instance, some technologies will empower companies to unlock new sources of revenue or income. It may be possible to offer customers access to advanced data or proactive maintenance strategies. This could increase the earning potential of your company.

Choosing the Right Digital Twin Solutions

As the digital world continues to evolve, digital twin solutions are becoming increasingly valuable. Used correctly, they have the potential to improve everything from productivity to business efficiency and sustainability. The right tools can even help to enhance customer experiences.

However, not every digital twin solution provider will be the same. Knowing how to assess vendors and choose the right company will be essential to the success of your digital twin campaign.

Quelle:

Your Guide to Comparing Digital Twin Solutions in 2023

2. August 2023 0 comment

Examples

Rethinking Digital Twins

Many people in the industry imagine or remember digital twins. What are they like today?

The idea of digital twins has been conceptually important to immersive technology and related ideas like the metaverse for some time – not to mention their practical employment, particularly in enterprise. However, the term doesn’t, or hasn’t, necessarily meant what it sounds like and the actual technology has so far had only limited usefulness for spatial computing.

Advances in immersive technology itself are opening up more nuanced and exciting applications for digital twins as fully-featured virtual artifacts, environments, and interfaces to the point that even experts who have been working with digital twins for decades are starting to rethink the concept.

Understanding Digital Twins

What exactly constitutes a digital twin is still a matter of some difference from company to company. ARPost defines a digital twin as “a virtual version of something that also exists as a physical object.” This basic definition includes now arguably antiquated iterations of the technology that wouldn’t be of much interest to the immersive tech crowd.

Strictly speaking, a digital twin does not have to be interactive, dynamic, or even visually representative of the physical twin. In academia and enterprise where this concept has been practically employed for decades, a digital twin might be a spreadsheet or a database.

We often think about the metaverse as like The Matrix, but we often think of it as the way Neo experiences the Matrix – from within. In that same analogy, digital twins are like the Matrix but as Tank and Dozer experience it – endless numbers that only look like numbers to the uninitiated but that paint detailed pictures to those in the know.

While that version certainly continues to have its practical applications, it’s not exactly what most readers will have in mind when they encounter the term.

The Shifting View of Digital Twins

“The traditional view of a digital twin is a row in a database that’s updated by a device,” Nstream founder and CEO Chris Sachs told ARPost. “I don’t think that view is particularly interesting or particularly useful.”

Nstream is “a vertically integrated streaming data application platform.” Their work includes digital twins in the conventional sense but it also includes more nuanced uses that incorporate the conventional but also stretch it into new fields. That’s why companies aren’t just comparing definitions, they’re also rethinking how they use these terms internally.

“How Unity talks about digital twins – real-time 3D in industry – I think we need to revamp what that means as we go along,” Unity VP of Digital Twins Rory Armes told ARPost. “We’ve had digital twins for a while […] our evolution or our kind of learning is the visualization of that data.”

This evolution naturally has a lot to do with technological advances, but Armes hypothesizes that it’s also the result of a generational shift. People who have lived their whole lives as regular computer users and gamers have a different approach to technology and its applications.

“There’s a much younger group coming into the industry […] the way they think and the way they operate is very different,” said Armes. “Their ability to digest data is way beyond anything I could do when I was 25.”

Data doesn’t always sound interesting and it doesn’t always look exciting. That is, until you remember that the metaverse isn’t just a collection of virtual worlds – it also means augmenting the physical world. That means lots of data – and doing new things with it.

Digital Twins as a User Interface

“If you have a virtual representation of a thing, you can run software on that representation as though it was running on the thing itself. That’s easier, it’s more usable, it’s more agile,” said Sachs. “You can sort of program the world by programming the digital twin.”

This approach allows limited hardware to provide minimal input to the digital twin. These provide minimal output to devices creating an automated, more affordable, more responsive Internet of Things.

“You create a kind of virtual world […] whatever they decide in the virtual world, they send it back to the real world,” said Sachs. “You can create a smarter world […] but you can’t do it one device at a time. You have to get them to work together.”

This virtual world can be controlled from the backend by VR. It can also be navigated as a user interface in AR.

“In AR, you can kind of intuit what’s happening in the world. That’s such a boost to understanding this complex technical world that we’ve built,” said Sachs. “Google and Niantic haven’t solved it, they’ve solved the photon end of it, the rendering of it, but they haven’t solved the interactivity of it […] the problem is the fabric of the web. It doesn’t work.”

To Sachs, this process of creating connected digital twins of essentially every piece of infrastructure and utility on earth isn’t just the next thing that we do with the internet – it’s how the next generation of the internet comes about.

“The world wide web was designed as a big data repository. The problem is that not everything is a document,” said Sachs. “We’re trying to upgrade the web so everything, instead of being a web page is a web agent, […] instead of a document, everything is a process.”

Rebuilding the World Wide Web

While digital twins can be a part of reinventing the internet, a lot of the tools used to build digital twins are also not made for that particular task. It doesn’t mean that they can’t do the job, it just means that providers and people using those services have to be creative about it.

“The Unity core was never developed for these VR training and geospatial data uses. […] Old-school 3D modeling like Maya was never designed for [spatial data],” said Armes. “That’s where the game engine starts.”

Unity – which is a game engine at heart – isn’t shying away from digital twins. The company works with groups, particularly in industry, to use Unity’s visual resources in these more complex use cases – often behind the scenes on internal projects.

“There are tons of companies that have bought Unity and are using it to visualize their data in whatever form,” said Armes. “People don’t necessarily use Unity to bring a product to the community, they’re using it as an asset process and that’s what Unity does really well.”

While Unity “was never developed for” those use cases, the toolkit can do it and do it well.

“We have a large geospatial model, we slap it into an engine, we’re running that engine,” said Armes. “We’re now bringing multiple layers to a world and being able to render that out.”

“Bringing the Worlds Together”

A digital twin of the real world powered by real-time data – a combination of the worlds described by Armes and Sachs – has huge potential as a way of both understanding and managing the world.

“We’re close to bringing the worlds together, in a sense,” said Armes. “Suddenly now, we’re starting to bring the pieces together […] we’re getting to that space.”

The Orlando Economic Partnership (OEP) is working on just such a platform, with a prototype already on offer. I was fortunate enough to see a presentation of the Orlando digital twin at the Augmented World Expo. The plan is for the twin to one day show real-time information on the city in a room-scale experience accessible to planners, responders, and the government.

While Unity “was never developed for” those use cases, the toolkit can do it and do it well.

“Bringing the Worlds Together”

A digital twin of the real world powered by real-time data – a combination of the worlds described by Armes and Sachs – has huge potential as a way of both understanding and managing the world.

“We’re close to bringing the worlds together, in a sense,” said Armes. “Suddenly now, we’re starting to bring the pieces together […] we’re getting to that space.”

“It’s going to become a platform for the city to build on,” said Justin Braun, OEP Director of Marketing and Communications.

Moving Toward Tomorrow

Digital twins have a lot of potential. But, many are stuck between thinking about how digital twins have always worked and thinking about the ways that we would like them to work. The current reality is somewhere in the middle – but, like everything else in the world of emerging and converging technology – it’s moving in an interesting direction.

Quelle:

Rethinking Digital Twins

17. Juli 2023 0 comment

Examples Metaverse

Why “digital twins” will be the building blocks of the industrial metaverse

At a recent panel discussion, industry leaders revealed not only the unrivaled value of virtual models—but also their huge bottom-line

While social media giants and Web3 true believers struggle to convince consumers why they should buy digital avatars and virtual real estate, a different demographic—CEOs—are racing to embrace the metaverse. Rather than hosting raves or playing games, they see immersive 3D environments as a new medium for collaboration and innovation in manufacturing in a future of remote work and distributed operations. Call it the “industrial metaverse.”

The building blocks of the industrial metaverse are “digital twins”—real-time, continuously updated virtual representations of real-world products and processes such as a factory floor or new electric vehicle on the digital drawing board. Grounded in the real-world rather than the fantastical, digital twins promise to become the interface for sensor data arriving from the internet of things, combined with AI analytics and human monitoring. Companies are already using them to model, predict, and improve operations from anywhere in the world using virtual ones—and the payoff can be huge.

“With a digital twin, we don’t have to build prototypes to see how things will work,” said Barbara Humpton, president and CEO of Siemens USA. “We can experiment using the laws of physics before making decisions about what we want to build—which for an auto manufacturer can mean designing a vehicle 50% faster.” Humpton’s remarks were made as part of a panel on the industrial metaverse hosted by Fast Company in partnership with Siemens. She was joined by Richard Kerris, head of developer relations at Nvidia—which offers its “Omniverse” development platform to partners such as Siemens—and Michael Campbell, chief product officer at Bentley Systems. Their session was introduced with a fireside chat with Cathy Hackl, chief metaverse officer at Journey and author of Into the Metaverse.

The value of digital twins is tied to their fidelity. It’s not enough to simulate a photo-realistic BMW 3 Series, for instance, without linking every part to its real-world analogue and the supply chain girding it. Only then is it truly a twin, mirroring changes to either. These tweaks can yield critical insights from enormously complex systems—such as how swapping out one set of nuts-and-bolts for another might lead to a supply chain bottleneck or similarly unintended consequence. “When you have a true-to-reality digital twin,” Kerris said, “you can decide where and how parts arrive before committing to anything in the real world. And this is saving BMW 30% in production costs when it’s time to change a model on the line.”

Other organizations such as Bentley Systems, which operates digital twins of physical infrastructure such as wind farms and water mains on behalf of clients, are using them to predict potentially costly failures or service interruptions before they happen. In such instances, AI and other analytics are combined with real-world data to render alarms and warnings in the metaverse. “We’re using AI in the metaverse to identify cracks in a dam or issues with a bridge thanks to its rich, 3D immersion,” Campbell said. “It’s really had a profound impact on how infrastructure, engineering, and operations are done.”

Belying its name, the industrial metaverse isn’t only for professionals, either. Prior to the panel, metaverse expert Cathy Hackl noted how New York and London have partnered with Minecraft (widely seen as a sort of proto-metaverse) to help crowdsource visions of each city’s future. “You can see a spectrum ranging from incorporating younger generations into city planning at one end and using digital twins to monitor traffic patterns and safety at the other,” Hackl said.

A METAVERSE OF METAVERSES

Realizing the full potential of digital twins will depend on widespread adoption of open standards and data, many of which are just now being developed. That’s because “the metaverse” will actually be comprised of many metaverses—some public, some private, some corporate—just as the internet itself is a network of networks. Underlying them all will be graphics standards including Universal Scene Description (USD)—originally developed by Pixar and since made open source—as well as standards for interoperability being hammered out by such groups as the Metaverse Standards Forum and Open Metaverse Alliance, with support from companies like Nvidia.

“You can’t do this in a walled garden,” Kerris said. “We’ve learned that lesson many times—it doesn’t work. You’ve got to be open, and then people can advance with new tools and technologies built on top of that.”

To that end, Nvidia has unveiled Omniverse—its software platform for building digital twins and metaverses—while Siemens has launched its own Xcelerator platform, recruiting more than 80 customers and partners to this ecosystem to help flesh out new standards and offer services. Both efforts highlight a unique feature of the metaverse: the ability to instantly summon collaborators from anywhere on the planet, regardless of their affiliation or location.

“It can be time-consuming to bring together engineers with different domain expertise,” Humpton explained. “But in the industrial metaverse, they can click into a meeting inside a virtual wind tunnel, observe simulations, and improve the design together.” Down the road, this has massive implications for how, where, and when work is down—and where things are made.

“Imagine a world in which we have microfactories around the world, with which we can seamlessly share data instead of stuff so that we are making things closer to the point of consumption,” Humpton offered. It’s a future that raises the question, Which is the real world, and which is the twin? And the answer, of course, is both.

Quelle:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90866200/why-digital-twins-will-be-the-building-blocks-of-the-industrial-metaverse

24. Mai 2023 0 comment

Examples

What is a Digital Twin? A Complete Guide

Everything you need to know about digital twins

What is a digital twin? If you’ve ever worked around the manufacturing or engineering landscape, you may have heard this term referenced in discussions about AI, XR, and Industry 4.0. Digital twins are rapidly emerging as one of the most valuable tools linked to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

While these concepts started life as relatively simple virtual replicas of processes, tools, and technologies in the industrial world, they’ve grown increasingly more advanced in recent years. As innovations continue to take place in the metaverse, XR landscape, and artificial intelligence space, digital twins have become a core part of the manufacturing technology stack.

Currently, the global market for digital twin technology is expected to reach a value of $73.5 billion by 2027, at an incredible CAGR of 60.6%. So, what are digital twins, and why are they gaining so much attention today?

What is a Digital Twin? The Basics

A digital twin is essentially a virtual replica of a physical object, service, or process. Models can be created to represent physical items in the real world, such as a wind farm or engine, as well as entire buildings and cities. It’s also possible to use digital twin technology to replicate processes so that companies can collect data on the results of specific workflows.

Digital twins are built using computer programs, leveraging real-world data to design simulations which predict how a process or product will perform. These solutions often work alongside numerous other technologies from Industry 4.0, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and the internet of things.

Indeed, advancements in data collection and AI have made digital twins a common component of driving innovation and improving performance. Some of the common types of digital twins now used in industrial processes worldwide include:

Component/Parts twins: Component twins replicate the functioning of a specific part of a process or technology for analysis in the virtual world. For instance, a system might help companies in the gaming industry to examine how images will render in a game.
Asset twins: Asset twins are typically used to evaluate how different components will work together in a process or device. They examine the collaboration between different solutions and help companies to improve productivity and efficiency.
System or unit twins: Unit or system twins replicate an entire solution within a digital environment. This allows companies to examine how all of the different aspects of a solution might work together in closer detail.
Process twins: Process twins examine the processes involved in a production, manufacturing, or engineering space. They help companies to determine whether all systems are synchronised enough to operate at peak performance.

How Do Digital Twins Work?

The exact functionality of a digital twin will vary depending on the use case and goal of the project. In virtually all cases, the lifecycle of a digital twin begins with data. Experts in the data science space collect information about a system or process to develop a mathematical replica.

Physical products behind the digital twin will be fitted with sensors which can produce consistent data about everything from energy output to potential errors and issues. Once informed with this data, virtual models can run simulations, generate potential insights, and suggest possible improvements.

Digital twins can be as simple or complex as the system requires. Different amounts of data will determine how accurately the model can simulate a real-world physical version of a product or process. Twins can also be used with prototypes to accelerate production and ideation.

Which Industries Use Digital Twins?

Digital twins are most common in the manufacturing landscape, as well as in other industrial environments such as engineering and production. Automobile manufacturing, aircraft production, railcar design and many other sectors benefit from the use of digital twins.

However, it’s also possible for various other groups to benefit from the advantages of digital twin solutions. For instance, healthcare and pharmaceutical organisations can use digital twins to predict how a new medication or treatment might perform. Energy and power companies can use digital twins to make their processes more efficient and reduce their carbon footprint.

In recent years, companies have also begun creating digital twins of office spaces for the XR landscape to support better collaboration and ideation in a range of different enterprise environments.

The Benefits of Digital Twin Technology

Digital twins can benefit a variety of different processes and industries, assisting professionals in the automotive, healthcare, power generation, and various other landscapes. The technology has already been used to solve various challenges, such as ensuring a sustainable energy system runs smoothly. Digital twins also allow companies to investigate ways of making products more durable and safer.

Some major benefits of digital twin technology for companies include:

Improved R&D: Digital twins allow for the rapid research and development of products, with the ability to collect large amounts of data related to potential processes and production outcomes. The information collected via a digital twin can help companies to make better decisions about how to innovate.
Greater efficiency: Even following the production of a new product, digital twins can help to monitor systems and performance. This allows companies to maintain and achieve peak efficiency and productivity levels throughout the production and customer success process.
End-of-life management: Digital twins can assist manufacturers and business leaders in deciding what to do with products which reach the end of their product lifecycle. They can help with recycling equipment and making sure companies remain energy efficient.
Innovation: Digital twins help companies experiment with products and processes which might be too risky or time-consuming to manage in person. They can allow for rapid innovation and creation with minimal waste.

As companies look for ways to reduce resources, improve efficiency, and improve processes, digital twins are poised to experience rapid and continued growth in the years ahead.

Quelle:

What is a Digital Twin? A Complete Guide

24. März 2023 0 comment

Examples

What Is a Digital Twin?

You’ve probably heard the term “digital twin.” But, have you ever heard it explained?

The explosion in XR technology and applications in the last few years means that there are a lot of new terms gaining prevalence. It can be hard to keep up. One that you may have heard – maybe even come across on ARPost – is “digital twin.” But, what exactly does that mean?

What Is a Digital Twin?

A “digital twin” is a virtual version of something that also exists as a physical object. The name can even help us understand the idea, to some degree, if we use it as an analogy – though it doesn’t always fit.

Like human twins, digital twins may look similar to their physical counterparts, but the two may behave very differently. One of the big benefits of the digital version is that it can often do things or go places that the physical version can’t.

Unlike human twins, however, digital twins don’t necessarily come along at the same time and aren’t necessarily created by the same people. Who creates twins, when, and how, all depend on what purpose they are intended to serve.

When the Digital Twin Is Older

A lot of digital twins predate their physical counterparts and come into the world largely as a byproduct. We’re talking here about virtual design models. 3D software, like a Computer Assisted Design (CAD) program, is used to create a mockup with the intention of a physical final product. This is commonplace in the automotive industry.

What happens to the digital model? That depends on the company. It may be archived internally for reference and never be seen by anyone outside of the company (or inside of the company) ever again. Increasingly, however, these digital models see new life in any number of exciting use cases in a process called “re-presentation.”

The digital model may be used internally to train engineers or develop new products. It may be optimized in a game engine for salesmen to present it in virtual showrooms. It may even be used in a video game. Increasingly, these models are also being auctioned off to car collectors as NFTs for their digital collections.

When the Physical Twin Is Older

On the other hand, the digital twin may come along much later than the physical twin. This often happens when people create a 3D model from an object that already exists. As mentioned above, a digital model can do things and go places that a physical object might not be able to.

One top-of-mind example is “Memorial to a Marriage” – a three-ton marble sculpture in New York with a 3D scan serving as the centerpiece of the LGBTQ+ VR Museum. The museum is filled with virtual scans of historical objects, but none of them better illustrate how a well-used digital model can take the idea behind a physical object and make it more accessible.

So far, we’ve been talking about what digital twins look like. However, they don’t need to look like the physical version to qualify.

Do Digital Twins Have Bodies?

Enterprise applications use information from connected devices to create multifaceted real-time reports on machines or entire physical environments. These digital twins of the Internet of Things (IoT) are a version of “computer models” that look more like data points on a spreadsheet than like a virtual object.

These computer models don’t just work one way. Analysts can change parameters in the computer model to simulate what would happen to the physical machine or environment in different scenarios. This can optimize performance by helping mechanics understand efficiency or simulate disasters without risking real workers and infrastructure.

These computer models are increasingly undergoing visualization. A Resonai demo at AWE showcased how inputs from IoT devices can be incorporated into a digital model of an entire building. This helps to visualize how and where machines are affecting the environment – particularly for people who aren’t experts in reading row-and-column computer models.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be another example of digital twins that look nothing like a physical twin. NFTs are identifiers for specific items on a blockchain. So, when we think of NFTs as digital art, the NFT represents digital art but just looks like a sequence of alphanumeric characters. And, there’s no law saying that an NFT has to represent digital art.

Say what you will about cryptocurrency scams and the price of JPEGs, the fact is that the blockchain itself is an incredibly secure and trustworthy way to organize and secure information. As a result, NFTs are increasingly being used as the 21st-century version of certificates of authenticity, (physical) art provenance, or even property deeds.

In all of these cases, even though the NFT still just looks like a line of letters and numbers, it’s standing in for a physical object. That makes it a kind of digital twin.

Do I Have a Twin?

What about digital twins of people? Honestly, it’s kind of becoming a thing. Sort of.

There are digital versions of a couple of people – mainly actors. These digital doppelgängers allow a thespian to act alongside himself or herself. They also allow actors to appear in films after they’ve passed away, or to appear younger on screen.

Right now, these twins are just tremendously detailed rigged 3D assets – they don’t think for themselves. But, the day may be coming. Dr. Martine Rothblatt’s 2014 book Virtually Human explores the idea of “mindclones” – AI versions of real people trained from things like the living person’s social media posts.

How might these twins be used? Who knows.

We could study them to learn more about the human mind. We could also use them to “live forever” similar to Johnny Depp’s character in Transcendence – which also came out in 2014 (coincidence?). A mindclone could even be used to animate the kind of human digital twins that we do have, creating immortal embodied avatars.

It’s interesting to think of technologists training their own mindclones while alive to prepare themselves for death – kind of like talking to your portrait in the Harry Potter universe. It’s something that’s definitely probably happening already.

More Twins With XR

Like many technological terms, “digital twin” has been around a lot longer than you might think – longer than the fresh hype generated by advancements in virtual and augmented reality.

However, by extending our ability to visualize data, XR is also revolutionizing the ways that digital twins are used – and the kinds of people that use them to what ends.

Quelle:

What Is a Digital Twin?

12. August 2022 0 comment

Knowledge Software/Apps

Arvizio announces new updates to its XR Platform for the creation and support of Augmented Reality digital twins

Arvizio, a provider of augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) solutions for real time collaboration and visualization, has recently announced new capabilities for the creation and advanced support of augmented reality digital twins to help enterprise companies accelerate their digital transformation strategies. Arvizio states that AR digital twins can help frontline workers navigate and monitor the industrial world to conduct assisted maintenance operations, review complex machinery, and plan industrial plants and facilities.

The company’s AR digital twins are aimed at improving planning, inspections, maintenance, and product development by giving customers the ability to visualize and interpret AR data both on-site and remotely. The Arvizio XR Platform enables visualization of digital twins at table-top scale or life size and supports remote 3D collaboration across a range of XR devices including HoloLens 2, Magic Leap, iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets.

Users can import a variety of 3D BIM, CAD, LiDAR and photogrammetry assets and take advantage of the integration of Arvizio’s XR platform with Autodesk cloud services, including BIM 360 and Fusion 360. These 3D models or reality captures serve as a digital canvas for instrumentation of the digital twin with augmented reality data. A graphical user interface tool allows users to associate IoT data, documents, images and workflow items with objects in the model. Models and scans can then be aligned on-site to overlay real-world objects with AR data. Arvizio’s XR Platform interfaces to cloud or on premise IoT data hubs offering the ability to integrate and associate live IoT data with objects in 3D models to create an operational digital twin.

“The 2020 pandemic is creating an acceleration of enterprise adoption of Industry 4.0 initiatives and, they [enterprises] are seeking innovative technologies to address and enhance their productivity and ROI,” said Jonathan Reeves, CEO at Arvizio. “Our customers can seamlessly incorporate AR and digital twins, further enhanced by infrastructure improvements such as 5G and private 5G deployments, to improve efficiency and ensure that processes are better serviced, analyzed and maintained in real-time.”

Arvizio’s XR platform for digital twins delivers key feature updates including:

Arvizio’s advanced hybrid rendering for visualization of large-scale models and point clouds;
XR Connect collaboration services with “see what I see” video for remote inspection and expert assistance;
IoT data integration and custom integration services to assist customers with digital twin and augmented reality migrations;
Expanded device support now including Oculus Quest, iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pro with LiDAR.

The new capabilities will be entering Beta in December with general availability planned for January 2021. Customers interested in participating in Beta testing can contact Arvizio at info@arvizizo.io. For more information on Arvizio’s XR Platform please visit the company’s website.

Quelle:

Foto: Arvizio

Arvizio announces new updates to its XR Platform for the creation and support of Augmented Reality digital twins

10. Dezember 2020 0 comment

Examples

Digital Twin und Augmented Reality: Von der Idee zur Umsetzung mit MES

Wie können die Industrie 4.0-Technologien wirksam und effizient implementiert werden, sodass eine schnelle Amortisierung gewährleistet ist?

Viele Unternehmen haben offenbar eine klare Vision für Industrie 4.0. Wie können die entsprechenden digitalen Technologien wirksam und effizient implementiert werden, sodass eine schnelle Amortisierung gewährleistet ist? Diese Frage ist nach wie vor entscheidend, und wir sind der Meinung, eine Antwort darauf zu haben. Die Lösung ist eine Kombination aus unterschiedlichen Technologien wie Digital Twin und Augmented Reality (AR) mit modernen Betriebsmanagement-Systemen wie MES.

ZUNÄCHST EINMAL DIE GRUNDLAGEN: DIGITAL TWIN UND AUGMENTED REALITY

Digital Twin oder der digitale Zwilling ist eine digitale Nachbildung einer physischen Einheit, z.B. einer Fertigungslinie oder einer einzelnen Verarbeitungsanlage. In der Fertigung umfasst sie verschiedene Modelle und Daten über das Produkt, die Wirtschaftsgüter, die Produktionslinie oder die Fabrik. Anhand von IIoT-Daten ist es möglich, das virtuelle Modell auf der Grundlage der Ereignisse im realen (physischen) System in Echtzeit zu aktualisieren.

Augmented Reality (AR) bietet eine interaktive Darstellung einer realen Umgebung, in der Objekte, die sich in der realen Welt befinden, durch computergenerierte Informationen einschließlich der sensorischen, auditiven und olfaktorischen Eindrücke ergänzt werden. Ähnlich wie bei einem digitalen Zwilling und wie in der Abbildung unten zu sehen ist, bilden die physische und virtuelle Welten ein Kontinuum.

Schauen wir uns nun das Zusammenspiel dieser Technologien an. Augmented Reality schafft eine Verbindung zwischen der physischen Welt einer Fabrik und ihrem virtuellen Abbild – Digital Twin – indem es einen Einblick in die beiden Komponenten ermöglicht, die mit Daten aus den tatsächlichen Prozessen ergänzt werden, um so die Entscheidungsfindung und das Wissensmanagement zu optimieren.

Darüber hinaus muss eine weitere Komponente betrachtet werden: Digital Thread oder der digitale Faden. Ein Digital Thread beschreibt den Handlungsrahmen, der Datenflüsse verbindet und eine holistische Darstellung der Daten eines Assets / Betriebsmittels über seinen gesamten Produktlebenszyklus ermöglicht. Dieses Framework umfasst Protokolle, Sicherheitsaspekte und Normen. Digital Thread verknüpft digitale Zwillinge, digitale Modelle von physischen Objekten oder Gruppen von Objekten. Alle ausgehenden Datenströme, die den digitalen sowie den physischen Aspekt eines Prozesses betreffen, werden dabei zu einem digitalen Faden zusammengefasst. Dieser Digital Thread ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil der horizontalen und vertikalen Integration von Industrie 4.0 zwischen verschiedenen Systemen und Disziplinen.

DER MES-GESTÜTZTE DIGITALE ZWILLING

Die digitalen Zwillinge und MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) sind aufgrund ihrer Struktur sehr eng miteinander verknüpft. Wir sind der Meinung, dass das MES den eigentlichen digitalen Zwilling der Fabrik darstellt. Betrachtet man solche MES-Funktionen wie die Bereitstellung eines Fabrikmodells, die Datendefinitionen, die Abbildung der Produktionsprozesse (physisch und virtuell) und die Nutzung der Daten für die Status- und Entscheidungsfindung, so entspricht das MES-Kernstück der Funktionalität eines digitalen Zwillings.

Schauen wir uns die zentralen MES-Funktionen an, um zu verstehen, was genau das MES zu einem Digital-Twin-Tool macht:

Erfassung und Speicherung von Daten, um die vollständige Synchronisierung der virtuellen (Digital Twin) und der realen Welt einfach und inhärent zu realisieren
Verarbeitung von Datenströmen, die von allen angeschlossenen Geräten, einschließlich IIoT, empfangen werden
Abgleich der eingehenden Daten mit den im Modell gespeicherten Standards, sodass sichergestellt ist, dass Fehlerschutz, Warnungen und Alarme ggf. ausgegeben werden

Die neueren MES-Versionen – Augmented MES – verfügen über einen digitalen Zwilling zur Visualisierung der Statusinformationen. Darüber hinaus setzen sie moderne Sensoren (IIoT, RFID, Scanner) ein, um Aktualisierungen bezüglich Materialien, Maschinen, Werkzeugen, Personal und Transportsystemen vorzunehmen. Sie koordinieren und aktualisieren das Modell mit dem Ziel den aktuellen Stand abzubilden.

Dank moderner MES können Sie vorhandene Baupläne (Blueprints) und CAD-Modelle von Geräten sowie ortsgebundene Dienste nutzen. So können Daten schnell geladen, Elemente bzw. Maschinen in den virtuellen Räumen positioniert und Ergebnisse visualisiert werden, sodass sowohl Sie als auch Ihre Mitarbeiter davon profitieren können.

MES VERBESSERT AR

Das MES bietet bereits seit Jahren eine Anleitung für Anwender und Techniker in Form von Arbeitsanweisungen auf den Bildschirmen. Diese Funktion gilt als ein wichtiges Element der Bedienerschnittstelle. Mit dem Aufschwung der AR-Technologie liefert das MES eine optimierte Benutzerfreundlichkeit. So können Mitarbeiter, die AR- oder intelligente Brillen, Mobiltelefone, Tablets und andere digitale Geräte einsetzen, entscheidende Prozessinformationen einblenden lassen.

Beispielsweise kann ein Mitarbeiter die AR-Brille zur Visualisierung einer Verarbeitungsanlage verwenden. Das MES zeigt dabei Mengen, Prüfergebnisse, Arbeitsanweisungen, Genealogie oder historische Aufzeichnungen an. Auch der Maschinenstatus oder die Wartungsinformationen, wie MTBF oder MTTR, können eingeblendet werden. Dafür muss für jede Ressource im MES mithilfe von AR-Identifikatoren festgelegt werden, welche Daten in welcher Reihenfolge anzuzeigen sind.

Der Einsatz von AR ist in den meisten Arbeitsbereichen der Fabrik möglich. SOPs, Checklisten, WIP und KPIs zur Information über Qualität, Durchsatz und Verfügbarkeit können von Betriebs- und zur Wartungsteams abgerufen werden. Eine interaktive Arbeitsanleitung dient dem Fehlerschutz bei den durchgeführten Arbeiten. Die Nachverfolgung von Materialien je Behälter – Mengen, Seriennummern und Verfallsdaten – trägt zur Verbesserung der Abläufe im Betrieb, Versand und Kundendienst bei. Den Möglichkeiten sind keine Grenzen gesetzt!

AUGMENTED MES IST SCHON HEUTE REALITÄT!

Wir haben bereits darüber gesprochen, wie ein modernes MES anhand von Digital Twin und AR die Produktivität erhöhen und Verbesserungen vorantreiben kann. Hierbei handelt es sich nicht um theoretische Beispiele, denn bereits heute sind kommerzielle Versionen solcher MES-Suiten erhältlich. Diese Systeme — wir nennen sie Augmented MES — wurden speziell dafür entwickelt, um Industrie 4.0 und die damit einhergehenden digitalen Technologien umzusetzen.

Mit Augmented MES können Sie den digitalen Zwilling der Fabrik erkunden, weiterentwickeln und optimieren sowie den Einsatz von AR in Ihrer Fabrik fördern. Doch längst nicht alle MES bieten solche Möglichkeiten! Viele aktuelle MES-Produkte verfügen weder über die Breite der Anwendungen noch über die zusätzlichen Funktionalitäten zur Umsetzung von Industrie 4.0, IIoT, Digital Twin und AR.

Treffen Sie also eine sorgfältige Auswahl und genießen Sie alle gewonnenen Vorteile, sobald Sie sich für ein Augmented MES entschieden haben. Augmented MES treibt deutlich und zeitnah den Fortschritt eines Unternehmens auf dem Weg zur Industrie 4.0 voran. Es bietet Ihnen die Grundlage für den Einsatz von solchen Zukunftstechnologien wie Digital Twin, AR und IIoT. Außerdem stellt es eine Datenplattform für kontinuierliche Verbesserungen der betrieblichen Abläufe und der Leistungsfähigkeit bereit – die Eckpfeiler zur Umsetzung von Industrie 4.0.

Der vorliegende Beitrag ist ein Auszug aus unserem Whitepaper Digital Twin and Augmented Reality: From Ideal to Real with MES. Das vollständige Whitepaper lesen Sie hier.

Quelle
https://www.pressebox.de/pressemitteilung/critical-manufacturing-deutschland-gmbh/Digital-Twin-und-Augmented-Reality-Von-der-Idee-zur-Umsetzung-mit-MES/boxid/1020550

3. September 2020 0 comment

Examples

Digital Twin: Virtuelle Welt und Realität im engen Austausch

Ohne interaktive Verknüpfung mit dem realen Gebäude bildet ein digitales Bauwerksmodell dieses nur ab. Einen echten digitalen Zwilling zeichnet deshalb genau dieser Link zum physischen Bauwerk aus. Wie damit künftig Gebäudeprozesse in Echtzeit angesehen, ausgewertet und gesteuert werden, zeigt die Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz mit einem Prototyp exemplarisch.

Komplexe neue Konzepte verständlich zu vermitteln, ist nicht einfach. Das gilt auch für den sogenannten Digital Twin, also den digitalen Zwilling eines existierenden oder entstehenden Bauwerks, der die Optimierung von Bau- und Immobilienprozessen ermöglicht. An der Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) hat man sich deshalb für einen praxisnahen Ansatz entschieden und einen von Studenten und Interessenten selbst erfahrbaren Digital-Twin-Prototyp für die Lehre und Forschung entwickelt. Einer breiten Öffentlichkeit erstmals vorgestellt wurde das vom «Lehrfonds FHNW» finanzierte Projekt an der Swissbau 2020.

Federführend im interdisziplinären Projekt sind Dr. Wissam Wahbeh, Verantwortlicher für den Fachbereich BIM-Modellierungstechnologien am Institut Digitales Bauen, und Professor Dominique-Stephan Kunz, der die Gruppe technische Gebäudesysteme am Institut Energie am Bau leitet. «Mit unserem Prototyp wollen wir verständlich aufzeigen, wie sich mittels IoT – also dem Internet der Dinge – das digitale Bauwerksmodell mit dem realen Gebäude nutzbringend vernetzen lässt», erläutert Architekt Wahbeh. Denn ein Building Information Model (BIM) als digitales Abbild eines Gebäudes werde erst durch die interaktive Verbindung zur gebauten Realität zum richtigen Digital Twin, so ihre gemeinsame Auffassung.

Für Sensorik offenes BIM-Modell

Was die beiden FHNW-Dozenten unter einem Digital Twin verstehen, der diese Bezeichnung auch verdient, demonstrieren sie gleich selbst in einem Unterrichtszimmer des Campus Muttenz. Aus didaktischen Gründen hätten sie sich entschieden, ihren Prototyp für einen Teilbereich des würfelförmigen Muttenzer Campusgebäudes zu erstellen, in dem auch die eigene Hochschule für Architektur, Bau und Geomatik zu Hause ist, sagt Ingenieur Kunz. «Um die Komplexität zu reduzieren, haben wir uns dabei auf einen überschaubaren Stockwerkabschnitt fokussiert.»

Auf dem Tisch steht denn auch ein Modell des spezifischen Campus-Ausschnitts in Form eines originalgetreuen 3-D-Drucks. «Diese Miniaturausgabe des realen Bauwerks haben wir mit 16 Lichtsensoren und zahlreichen LEDs ausgestattet, um so ein beispielhaftes Beleuchtungsszenario durchspielen zu können», erklärt Kunz. Konkret hat er eine Konstantlicht-Regelung implementiert, also ein Gebäudeautomationskonzept der zweithöchsten Stufe, das an den fiktiven Arbeitsplätzen im 3-D-Druck immer den Normwert von 500 Lux garantiert. «Wenn das durch die Fenster dringende Sonnenlicht ausreicht, diese Vorgabe zu erreichen, wird die künstliche Beleuchtung ausgeschaltet, ansonsten hinzugeschaltet und bedarfsgerecht gedimmt», so Kunz weiter.

Beim FHNW-Prototyp interagiert der mit Sensoren und Leuchtmitteln bestückte 3-D-Druck als physischer Zwilling direkt mit seinem virtuellen Pendant. Und tatsächlich zeigt der wuchtige Wandscreen darüber den dazugehörigen digitalen Zwilling, nämlich das dreidimensionale digitale Modell des entsprechenden Stockwerkabschnitts. Dieses BIM-Modell gibt zudem einen guten Überblick über den aktuellen Betriebsstatus sämtlicher 16 Beleuchtungszonen: Ausgeschaltete LEDs sind im digitalen Bauwerksmodell mit Schwarz hinterlegt, eingeschaltete mit derjenigen Lichtfarbe, in der sie gerade leuchten.

Feinfühliger 3-D-Druck: Die Miniaturausgabe des realen Campus-Stockwerkabschnitts ist mit 16 Lichtsensoren und zahlreichen LEDs ausgestattet, die auf den simulierten Tageslichteinfall durch die Fenster prompt reagieren.

Wechselseitiger Austausch

Wahbeh startet nun beim physischen Zwilling die Simulation des Lichteinfalls durch die Zimmerfenster im Tagesverlauf. Dafür wird das Tablet-Display, auf dem der 3-D-Druck steht, mit dem simulierten Tageslichtmuster bespielt. «Die im physischen Modell eingebauten Sensoren messen die Sonnenlichtstärke in den 16 definierten Zonen und geben diese Informationen an die Prozesssteuerung der Gebäudeautomation weiter», sagt Wahbeh. «Das Kunstlicht wird automatisch ein- oder ausgeschaltet respektive heller oder dunkler gedimmt, um so die geforderten 500 Lux zu erreichen.» Gleichzeitig wird der neue Status der Beleuchtung im digitalen Bauwerksmodell (BIM) in Echtzeit aktualisiert.

Danach ändert Wahbeh die Kontroll-Parameter im BIM-Modell manuell und verlangt so mittels digitalen Zwilling einen Lichtfarbenwechsel von weiss auf blau in allen Zimmern, die zu einer der 16 Beleuchtungszonen gehören. Diese Informationen werden via Gebäudeautomation als Steuerbefehl an die LEDs des physischen Zwillings weitergegeben. Beim 3-D-Druck wechselt die Beleuchtung in den definierten Zimmern sofort auf blau. «Zwischen dem physischen und dem digitalen Zwilling unseres Prototyps werden die Daten also in beide Richtungen übertragen, das heisst sowohl vom digitalen Bauwerksmodell zum physischen Bauwerk, als auch umgekehrt», fasst Wahbeh zusammen.

Mehrwert entsteht im Verbund

Genau dieser interaktive Realtime-Austausch von Zustands-, Nutzungs- und Analysedaten sowie Steuerungsbefehlen macht das von der FHNW exemplarisch erprobte Digital-Twin-Konzept für die künftige Praxis so vielversprechend. Die über Sensoren gesammelten Informationen eines Gebäudes und die Daten des digitalen Bauwerksmodells, also die Geometrien und sonstigen Eigenschaften der Bauelemente, werden vereinfacht gesagt in einer einzigen Datenbank zusammengeführt. Da dies in Echtzeit geschieht, ist der digitale Zwilling stets auf dem aktuellen Stand darüber, was, wo, weshalb bei seinem realen Geschwister stattfindet. Nebst Auswertungen werden so auch Einblicke und Eingriffe in die Gebäuderealität ermöglicht – dies zeitungebunden und ohne zeitliche Verzögerung.

Gängige Gebäudetechnik-Leitsysteme liefern funktionale Schemas. Was jedoch komplett fehlt, ist die Verortung im digitalen Bauwerksmodell.

Prof. Dominique-Stephan Kunz, Institut Energie am Bau, FHNW

Auch die Leitsysteme heutiger Gebäudeautomation nutzen Sensordaten, sind also mit dem Internet der Dinge verbunden, um vor Ort autonom regeln zu können. Doch oft verbleiben die IoT-Gebäudedaten auf einer vom digitalen Bauwerksmodell völlig unabhängigen Plattform. Interaktive Verbindung? Fehlanzeige! «Gängige Gebäudetechnik-Leitsysteme liefern dem Anlagenbetreiber und seinem Wartungspersonal primär schematische funktionale Darstellungen. Was jedoch komplett fehlt, ist der konkrete geometrische Bezug», umreisst Kunz die Konsequenz der fehlenden Verknüpfung. Dabei kann eine örtliche Visualisierung im BIM-Modell etwa im Störungsfall sehr hilfreich sein, gerade bei fehlenden Anlage-Detailkenntnissen. «Im digitalen Zwilling wird dem Nutzer dann beispielsweise genau angezeigt, in welchem Raum und an welcher Stelle sich die ausgefallene Pumpe befindet», sagt Kunz. Das Wartungspersonal ist somit schneller und mit dem richtigen Material vor Ort, wertvolle Arbeitszeit wird eingespart.

Clever Putzen dank BIM-Verortung

Auch das vereinzelt bereits praktizierte «Smart Cleaning» funktioniert nicht ohne geometrischen Bezug. Bei diesem Anwendungsfall werden stark genutzte Räume regelmässiger und intensiver gereinigt, als schwach frequentierte Zimmer. «Um abzulesen, wie gut beispielsweise ein Besprechungszimmer ausgelastet ist, drängt sich die Auswertung der Buchungsinformationen im Outlook-Kalender auf», sagt Kunz. Denn als Indikatoren umfassen diese nebst den Belegungszeiten auch die Anzahl der Sitzungsteilnehmer. Werden diese Informationen mit den Daten einfacher Bewegungsmelder ergänzt, bleiben auch Abweichungen von den geplanten Sitzungszeiten nicht unberücksichtigt. Gebuchte Räume, die dennoch nicht genutzt werden, können für andere Zwecke freigegeben werden.

Alle zusammengetragenen Informationen fliessen in die Datenbank eines zweiten Systems ein, in dem sie mittels komplexer Algorithmen automatisiert ausgewertet werden. Die Ergebnisse dieser Datenanalyse kann der Nutzer als Diagramme abrufen, die ihm die Benutzungsintensität im zeitlichen Verlauf veranschaulichen. Will ein Immobilienbewirtschafter nun zum Beispiel die Beliebtheit der einzelnen Besprechungszimmer miteinander vergleichen, um konkrete Massnahmen zur Nutzerlenkung zu ergreifen, benötige er ebenfalls den geometrischen Bezug. «Er muss wissen, welche Räume nahe beim Lift liegen und welche Zimmer fensterlos sind. Denn Prozessoptimierungen im Betrieb einer Liegenschaft basieren fast immer auf der Verortung im digitalen Bauwerksmodell», so Kunz. Und tatsächlich ist diese etwa auch Voraussetzung für Personenleitsysteme in Betriebskantinen oder Ausweichempfehlungen bei stark frequentierten Personenaufzügen im Gebäude.

Digitaler Zwilling nützt auch Bau

Ein weiteres vielversprechendes betriebliches Konzept ist «Predictive Maintenance», was sich mit vorausschauender Wartung übersetzen lässt. Mit Sensoren gemessene physikalische Grössen werden hier mit Daten zur Nutzung des Gebäudes kombiniert – und schon lassen sich Wartungszeiten sowie -intervalle im Unterhalt der Gebäudetechnik optimieren. Wann beispielsweise die Komponenten einer Lüftungsanlage instandgehalten werden, entscheidet nicht mehr der Ingenieur mittels vorgegebenem Rhythmus. Für den Wartungszeitpunkt ausschlaggebend sind dann die tatsächliche Beanspruchung, die in einer Datenbank erfassten Betriebserfahrungen und die zukünftig geplanten Nutzungen. Gewartet wird somit erst, wenn dies sowohl ökonomisch als auch ökologisch Sinn ergibt.

Die Anwendung des Digital-Twin-Konzepts der FHNW ist aber nicht erst in der Betriebsphase einer Liegenschaft möglich. Auch auf Baustellen wird hierzulande zunehmend digital unterstützt gearbeitet, das Stichwort heisst hier BIM-to-Field. Während der Erstellung wird der Baufortschritt dabei laufend mit dem digitalen Bauwerksmodell abgeglichen. Polier und Bauführer erkennen so materielle, terminliche oder kostentechnische Abweichungen frühzeitig und können sofort angemessen darauf reagieren. Für Kunz wäre aber etwa auch eine Anwendung im Bereich der Diebstahl-Prävention denkbar. «Für gewisse Zonen, wie beispielsweise den Installationsplatz oder die Baustelleneinfahrt, liesse sich im BIM-Modell live nachführen, wo sich welche Gerätschaften, Fahrzeuge und Materialien befinden.» Dank der Verbindung zwischen der Realität und der virtuellen Welt würde folglich ein unbekannter Transporter in einem sensitiven Bereich nicht lange unbemerkt bleiben.

Energie und Roboter im Fokus

Ob im Bau oder Betrieb: Unabdingbare Voraussetzung für alle Digital-Twin-Anwendungen sind zahlreiche Sensoren, die in der Realität Informationen sammeln und diese in Echtzeit ans digitale Bauwerksmodell weitergeben. Erhöht dies denn nicht den Energiebedarf eines Gebäudes? «Viele Sensoren sind auch betrieblich notwendig. Dann liegt es doch nahe, deren Daten aufzuzeichnen und für prozessuale Optimierungen zu nutzen», relativiert Kunz den Einwand. Bevor man jedoch zusätzliche Messfühler installiere, gelte es schon abzuwägen, was Sinn mache. «Dabei sollten wir jedoch nicht vergessen, dass wir durch die sinnvolle Nutzung des digitalen Zwillings grosse Energieeinsparungen im Betrieb von Gebäuden erzielen», ergänzt Wahbeh. Die höhere Energieeffizienz habe verschiedene Gründe: Der Energieverbrauch werde in Echtzeit angezeigt, und der künftige Verbrauch könne prognostiziert oder simuliert werden.

Bringen wir alle Informationen im Digital Twin zusammen, räumen wir gleichzeitig mit den leider noch weit verbreiteten Redundanzen auf.

Dr. Wissam Wahbeh, Institut Digitales Bauen, FHNW

Einen Digital Twin, der das reale Bauwerk als einzige Informationsquelle stetig spiegelt und auch automatisch steuert, gibt es noch nicht. «Das Potenzial dazu ist jedoch vorhanden – und dies nicht erst in weiter Zukunft», zeigt sich Wahbeh überzeugt. Dafür müsse es uns gelingen, die Fülle an Informationen mit maschinellem Lernen und künstlicher Intelligenz zu verbinden. Voraussetzung für den vermehrten Einsatz von Robotern in unseren Gebäuden ist allerdings, dass sämtliche Daten maschinenlesbar sind. «Gelingt uns das Zusammenbringen aller Informationen, können wir gleichzeitig mit den leider immer noch weit verbreiteten Redundanzen aufräumen, die zu Datenkonflikten führen und die Datenpflege erschweren.» Anzustreben ist deshalb gemäss Wahbeh ein digitaler Zwilling als Datencontainer, aus dem sich alle berechtigten Nutzer bedienen können. «Denn dann stimmt die virtuelle Welt immer mit der Realität überein.»

Quelle:

https://www.baublatt.ch/baupraxis/digital-twin-virtuelle-welt-und-realitaet-im-engen-austausch

Autor:

Gabriel Diezi (gd)

Teaserbild-Quelle: Gabriel Diezi

4. Juni 2020 0 comment

Examples

Augmented Reality is making industrial work more productive

Fieldbit’s augmented reality support app is like an interactive Haynes manual.

Veolia Water Technologies, a transnational water treatment specialist firm, is partnering with a company called Fieldbit to bring Augmented Reality to the plant floor. Don’t feel bad if your first reaction to that statement is „huh?“—ours was, too. If you’ve ever had to work on unfamiliar or semi-familiar physical equipment, though, it gets pretty interesting.

We spoke to Robert Kodweis, Fieldbit’s VP of operations, to get a better picture of what the company really does. Fieldbit is a software company, and its apps are relatively hardware-agnostic. Users can experience AR (Augmented Reality) marked-up views of equipment and spaces through smartglasses such as Realwear’s HMT-1, or by using an Android smartphone app to mark up video from the phone’s camera in real time—something like Pokémon Go for the industrial floor.

We pressed Kodweis pretty hard on the apparent AI aspects of the application. Since the press photos we saw mostly seemed to focus on tagging particular equipment with its own telemetry via AR, we wanted to know how the system was trained to reliably recognize individual machines without seeing identification plates and serial numbers. Kodweis explained that while this spatial computing is indeed possible, it’s not the big focus of Fieldbit’s collaboration with Veolia.

Instead, Fieldbit’s app provides remote workers with expert support in maintaining and repairing equipment on site. When a worker needs to perform an unfamiliar maintenance operation, he or she can open up the app and see if the operation is available in the company’s knowledge base. If so, the modern equivalent of Chilton or Haynes manual procedure outlines becomes available. If not, the field worker is connected with a remote support agent who can guide them directly through the procedure, seeing and marking up the camera images on the field worker’s device as they go.

Fieldbit’s application sounds much better than a Haynes manual, though. Once a procedure has been worked up and added to the Knowledge Base, field workers can access it by first selecting the pump or other machine by model, and then selecting the procedure—which could be replacing a filter, replacing an assembly, or any general repair item. In the future, field techs will be able to just aim their phone or glasses directly at the machine and have relevant KB procedures pop up automatically—but the company is still working on the AI image recognition for that aspect.

Once the worker selects a repair or maintenance procedure, the Fieldbit app walks them through it step by step. At each step of the procedure, the app highlights the appropriate parts—for example, bolts which should be loosened can be circled in red—on the actual video of the machine, as seen on the field worker’s phone or headset in real time.

A Fieldbit sales engineer created this short demo video for us, in which the user is guided through a simple connectivity check-and-restoration procedure on an Andium cellular gateway device. Note the augmented reality aspect—the actual LEDs, buttons, wires and antennas are overlaid automatically and in real time as the user’s phone pans across them, during each of the procedure’s five steps.

Quelle:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/10/fieldbit-is-bringing-augmented-reality-to-industrial-plants/

8. Oktober 2019 0 comment