Digital Twin-Driven Human Robot Collaboration Using a Digital Human

Abstract

Advances are being made in applying digital twin (DT) and human–robot collaboration (HRC) to industrial fields for safe, effective, and flexible manufacturing. Using a DT for human modeling and simulation enables ergonomic assessment during working. In this study, a DT-driven HRC system was developed that measures the motions of a worker and simulates the working progress and physical load based on digital human (DH) technology. The proposed system contains virtual robot, DH, and production management modules that are integrated seamlessly via wireless communication. The virtual robot module contains the robot operating system and enables real-time control of the robot based on simulations in a virtual environment. The DH module measures and simulates the worker’s motion, behavior, and physical load. The production management module performs dynamic scheduling based on the predicted working progress under ergonomic constraints. The proposed system was applied to a parts-picking scenario, and its effectiveness was evaluated in terms of work monitoring, progress prediction, dynamic scheduling, and ergonomic assessment. This study demonstrates a proof-of-concept for introducing DH technology into DT-driven HRC for human-centered production systems.

The Development of a Digital Twin Framework for an Industrial Robotic Drilling Process

“…For an industrial application, the assembly process of an automobile generator was used to verify the effectiveness of this method [ 29 ]. In [ 30 ], a digital representation of the human body was developed to enable ergonomic assessment during human–robot collaboration. In that study, digital human representations in digital twinning was implemented in a pick and place case study.…”

Beyond Digital Twins: Phygital Twins for Neuroergonomics in Human-Robot Interaction

“…Among the fields of DT application, robotics certainly offers several examples (Girletti et al, 2020;Matulis and Harvey, 2021) of twinning solutions, especially in conditions of HRI like human-robot collaboration (Malik and Bilberg, 2018;Maruyama et al, 2021;Tuli et al, 2021).…”

“…Among the fields of DT application, robotics certainly offers several examples (Girletti et al, 2020 ; Matulis and Harvey, 2021 ) of twinning solutions, especially in conditions of HRI like human-robot collaboration (Malik and Bilberg, 2018 ; Maruyama et al, 2021 ; Tuli et al, 2021 ). In particular, literature in robotics offers interesting solutions of intuitive extended reality interfaces (Alfrink and Rossmann, 2019 ; Burghardt et al, 2020 ) to ease the interaction of an expert with a DT.…”

Scalability of Cyber-Physical Systems with Real and Virtual Robots in ROS 2

“…In recent years, the number of simulation tools and technologies available for the development of MRS platforms has grown substantially. Digital twins (DTs) and digital shadows [10][11][12][13] are among those technologies that perfectly integrate the principles of CPSs and their capability to manage information from a virtual world and to allow data collection and exchange in real time with the physical system. Augmented reality (AR) has also been used as a support tool to integrate physical and digital environments [14].…”