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long, instead merging into a single device that can deliver immersive, shutout-the-world VR experiences - and then become transparent to let you
interact with the world again. "

DIGITAL TWINNING

The concept of a digital twin - a virtual mock-up of a physical object or
space on a platform that passes data between the two - has been around
since the early 2000s. But only recently has technology risen to the challenge of delivering on the promise.
Today digital twinning is being used in fields as varied as medicine (to
synchronize all sources of patient data to create a complete picture of a
patient's needs), regional planning (to easily share data in a standardized
form, collaborate on solutions and better plan maintenance and new construction) and manufacturing (allowing businesses to spot potential problems before they happen). This is part of the promise of Industry 4.0, the
influence of which will likely impact every industry.
Thirteen percent of organizations implementing Internet of Things (IoT)
projects already use digital twins, while 62% are either in the process of
establishing digital twin use or plan to do so, according to Gartner. Deloitte
estimates that the digital twin industry will grow from $3.8 billion in 2019
to $35.8 billion in 2025. Early adopters included manufacturers (a Czech
car maker used digital twinning to determine how to integrate a new robot
station into its assembly line, in three weeks less than conventional methods); the oil and gas industry (for predictive maintenance and training);
and the U.S. Navy (for keeping track of ship parts).
The government of Singapore funded the creation of a digital twin of
the entire city, and a group called Infrastructure New Zealand is calling
for a similar project for that island nation. The European Union is planning a digital twin of the entire Earth " that would simulate the
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atmosphere, ocean, ice and land with
unrivaled precision, providing forecasts
of floods, droughts and fires from days to
years in advance. "
But use in the product development
process " dominated the digital twin market in 2019, owing to the rapid integrating
of digital clones to track the performance
of every individual component of a product, " reports ResearchAndMarkets.com.
Using digital twins can " bring down the
mean time to repair (MTTR) and mean
time between failure (MTBF). All this ultimately decreases the operating costs and
increases the operational efficiency. "
But efficiency is just the beginning.
" When it comes to solving big human
and social problems, the process of innovation becomes that much tougher, " notes
the MIT Sloan Management Review. " It
may be unethical to run experimental
tests on somebody's heart, for example,
and you can't stop traffic in a city's rush
hour to experiment with new routing systems. Or can you? "
You can with a digital twin.
" Just as humans collaborate to innovate, so, too will digital twins, " according
to the MIT Sloan Management Review.
Much of the value associated with digital
twins arises from a digital thread, a connecting infrastructure that allows digital
twins to share information with one
another and connect traditionally siloed
functional perspectives. "
The pandemic is expected to accelerate
the adoption of digital twinning in construction, as architects " design and build
for maximum social distancing under
various human traffic scenarios and to
strategically incorporate and test other
building elements like occupant temperature, contact-free interfaces and robotics, "
per ConstructionDive.com.
So, if we're to see the silver lining from
the pandemic, we now have a captive
audience at home (as consumers and professionals) and XR can be a solution while
the real world is getting back to normal.
XR is no longer just for gaming, it can
bring us together in new ways and provide tools to predict and build our collective futures.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

12/9/20 3:20 PM

http://www.ResearchAndMarkets.com http://www.ConstructionDive.com https://cta.tech/Resources/i3

i3 - January/February 2021

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