Alecturer in construction management in Australia is developing a “digital twin” of an excavator to test the capability of remote control and diagnostics. Dr Samad Sepasgozar MCIOB, senior lecturer in construction, civil engineering, and architecture at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), said digital twinning could transform the industry.
The idea is to create a digital replica for physical objects in the world, with the digital replica stored in the cloud, collecting data on the physical object’s performance in real time.
“The digital twin and the physical excavator can communicate with each other, in real time. All the changes applied to one are applied to the other…On the other hand, the physical object will communicate with you so you can examine its performance, condition and productivity,” Sepasgozar said.
The excavator would be controlled by a smartphone app. It is, he said, “much easier than any previous digital automation technologies.”
