Digital twins for the implementation of adaptive augmented reality support systems
Johannes Hug*, Jessica Ulmer*, Youssef Mostafa*, Pamela Stöcker*, Jörg Wollert*
FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Aachen
Industry 4.0 and global networking are leading to even shorter product life cycles and a growing number of product variants. This increases the demands on employees in manufacturing companies, as activities and technologies become more diverse, complex and abstract. Flexible support systems using augmented reality (AR) are one way of dealing with this increased complexity. However, the challenge here is to integrate data from different systems (including design data, sensor values, and process information) into AR apps and to adopt changes automatically.
At the Institute for Applied Automation and Mechatronics (IAAM) at FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, a digital twin for assembly products was designed that uses semantics to generically define work processes and reactions to operating states, centrally stores life cycle information and provides interfaces for various applications. The concept was implemented for a flexible assistance system in the area of assembly, maintenance and commissioning. The CAD data sets and recipes stored in the cloud form the basis of a web-based AR application. By capturing machine data via IO-Link sensors, situational instructions are transmitted to the users. All information about the product and the process is stored in the digital twin and made available for analysis. This allows error-prone process steps to be identified and support measures to be improved.
Overall, process- and product-related information can be provided by means of the digital twin. Changes in the digital twin should have an automated effect on the AR application in the future.
Figure 1: General idea for the use of digital twins for AR applications.
