Towards the Development of a Digital Twin for Micro Learning Factory: A Proof of Concept

The Learning Factory concept has gained importance in recent years
to improve manufacturing education and prepare students for the workforce.
Digital Twin (DT) technology is considered as a crucial tool to enhance the
Learning Factory experience. Due to the novelty of this topic, there is limited
research on developing DTs specifically for this purpose. Currently, a Micro
Learning Factory (MLF), described as a smaller-scale version of the Learning
Factory, has been developed mainly for educational purposes to offer a flexible,
personalized, and effective learning solution. This platform incorporates a large
number of equipment to reproduce industrial production lines with a good level
of representativeness, including a 6-axis robotic arm, conveyor belts, grippers,
cameras and computer vision tools. However, to fully realize its potential, the
development of a DT for the MLF is crucial. This technology can simulate the
learning environment, provide data analytics, and offer real-time feedback to
students. Despite its potential, a digital twin for the MLF has not yet been
developed. In this article, we propose a proof of concept for the development of
a digital twin of one of the main components of the MLF, which is the 6-axis
robotic arm. Firstly, we present the proposed architecture for the DT of the 6-axis
robotic arm that we designed. Then, we present in detail two scenarios for its
manipulation, one focused on the pick and place operations, and the other on
conformity control. Finally, we discuss future perspectives, with a focus on the
development of a MLF DT interfaced in Extended Reality.