Universities Launch Center for Digital Twins in Manufacturing
The University of Michigan and Arizona State University are launching the Center for Digital Twins in Manufacturing, aiming to overcome barriers preventing digital twins from enhancing manufacturing processes. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is contributing $1.5 million over five years for administrative costs, with industry partners paying annual dues of $90,000 to fund research projects.
The center's goals include quantifying and reducing uncertainty in digital twins, developing digital twins for human-robot collaboration, and creating Autotwin software. Dawn Tilbury, the center's leader, envisions digital twins that are composable, reusable, and maintainable. Currently, lack of standardization makes implementing digital twins in manufacturing challenging. To address this, the center plans to develop generalized digital twins for certain types of machines, making them reusable, extendable, and maintainable.
A recent informational meeting was held for interested industry representatives to discuss the center's goals and operations. The center seeks industry partners to formally launch an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center, funded by the NSF. However, no search results specifically identify the industry partners currently collaborating with the center.
The Center for Digital Twins in Manufacturing aims to improve manufacturing processes by making digital twins more accessible and effective. With the NSF's financial support and industry partners' collaboration, the center seeks to overcome standardization barriers and develop reusable, maintainable digital twins for various machines.
