Positioning

Nowadays, it is no longer uncommon to open industrial literature and journals without encountering the term "digital twin." In a production context, this refers to all applications where digital tools are used to virtually replicate the physical reality in order to design, control, and optimize production and logistics environments. Digital twins are becoming increasingly mainstream in the industry. The potential to implement digital twins in the broader scope of production and logistics environments is immense. However, many companies, particularly SMEs, fail to take the first step. Two typical application areas to initiate this are (1) "virtual engineering," where a 3D model is used to dimension and virtually commission a production process, and (2) "virtual user experience," where employees can easily interact with a generated 3D environment that simulates realistic production situations related to their job content for user research and training purposes.
There are still many challenges in creating and maintaining such applications. As a result, typical examples today are mainly known as pilot environments and demonstrations of isolated applications that often are not scaled up in the industry due to a lack of a solid business case. The main causes are: (1) no clear path to selecting the right tools; (2) the creation of virtual replicas is typically very manual and thus labor-intensive in terms of content creation and interaction; (3) usage scenarios are heavily dependent on human actions that are not easy to describe; (4) enabling usability testing or training requires a high level of detail to test and train realistic scenarios; and (5) applications related to virtual engineering and virtual user experience are often set up too independently of each other, resulting in a lot of redundant work.
Both in the context of virtual engineering and virtual user experience, we are in a time of rapid evolution. Thanks to previous research in both involved labs and rapid technological advancements, we are convinced that it is currently feasible to automate large parts of the processes and link both technologies together, tailored to SMEs. Finally, the technical and human aspects in the rollout of digital twins can be connected in a scalable manner.

Overall Goal
The general objective is to support system integrators, machine builders, and manufacturing companies in the cost-efficient creation and maintenance of digital twins for production and logistics environments in order to carry out "virtual engineering" and "virtual experience" projects. Beyond the potential of each individually, the added value lies primarily in the continuous synergy between both domains, namely virtual engineering ∞ experience, or simply VE∞X. By fostering this synergy, this project will bridge the gap between tools and users, increase the accessibility of these technologies, and encourage their use in the Flemish manufacturing landscape.
Within our target group, we make a distinction between manufacturing companies and integrators (primary) and technology companies that develop simulation software and/or XR applications (secondary). This project will (1) enable them to make informed decisions on the right technology to deploy, (2) allow them to start using available tools, (3) guide them in formulating their needs, and (4) help them find and (5) communicate with the appropriate partners when necessary.

Specific Goals

• Mapping the opportunities and adoption of virtual engineering and virtual experience in Flanders.
• Classification of tools and identification of methods, challenges, and opportunities.
• Addressing the identified challenges and developing new methods to enable easy modeling and interaction with a virtual replica.
• Developing a test platform where the project team, together with technology suppliers and consultancy firms, can test, verify, and demonstrate the new methods.
• Developing case studies with members of the steering group to validate the technical and economic feasibility of the VE∞X methods.
• Disseminating the project results to the broader target group through publications, workshops, and study days.
• Integrating the results into the educational offerings of UGent and HoWest.