Chapter 10 - Digital twins in industry 4.0

Abstract

The digital twin is now within reach while manufacturing and manufacturing process become increasingly digital and the Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more and more dominant. Digital twins are intended to model complex structures and processes that communicate with their environments in various ways, for which it is challenging to predict effects over the entire lifecycle of the product. A digital twin is a virtual model that during its life cycle simulates a physical entity or operation, providing a near real-time connection between both the physical and virtual world. A digital twin allows the industry to detect physical issues sooner, predict outcomes more accurately, and build better products. The IoT drives digital twin as a trend in a wide range of industries, by offering them the potential to take the advantages, of mass customization along with mass personalization, maintaining, at the same time, mass production efficiency. Developing a digital twin needs different components, including sensors, communications networks, and a digital platform. This chapter aims to map major architectures and applications of digital twins for Industry 4.0, along the lines of manufacturing systems, manufacturing processes and robots, automation and virtual reality in manufacturing.