U-M and ASU Launch Bid for National Digital Twin Manufacturing Center
- University of Michigan and Arizona State University are forming a research center focused on developing reusable, connected digital twins for manufacturing.
- The center seeks industry partners and National Science Foundation backing to address standardization and collaboration challenges in digital twin technologies.
The University of Michigan and Arizona State University are collaborating to establish a Center for Digital Twins in Manufacturing, focusing on pre-competitive problems that limit the use of digital twins in manufacturing. The goal is to enable digital twins to be composable, reusable, and maintainable across systems.
Digital twins are helping factories predict maintenance needs, monitor performance, and simulate changes. Current implementations are often fragmented, custom-built, and challenging to update, particularly when machinery changes. The new center aims to create more generalized and flexible digital twins, including models for human-robot collaboration and factory simulation.
To move forward, the team must secure industry partners who will fund research through membership dues. If successful, they’ll become eligible for $1.5 million in National Science Foundation support over five years. Research and testing will take place at U-M’s SMART 4.0 testbed and ASU’s connected smart manufacturing system.
🌀 Tom’s Take:
When every company builds its own digital twin in a silo, nobody wins. Academia is stepping in where industry can’t, doing the essential work of building the connective tissue that could benefit the entire sector. If it works, this center could accelerate adoption and lay the groundwork for real standards.
Source: University of Michigan News
