The University of Michigan and Arizona State University have collaborated to establish a new National Science Foundation research center, Michigan News reported Monday.
Advancing Manufacturing with Digital Twins
The universities intend to launch the Center for Digital Twins in Manufacturing to address the challenges that hinder digital twin technology from advancing manufacturing. The proposed center will focus on resolving precompetitive issues to expand the use of digital twins to enhance manufacturing performance, quality and uptime.
Learn more about how the Air Force and Space Force are utilizing digital twins in their advanced engineering at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Air and Space Summit on July 31 at the Hilton McLean!
The center aims to develop generalized, reusable, extendable and maintainable digital twins for particular machine types, such as a 3D printer that could be customized to simulate another specific machine. The digital twins are intended to simulate natural wear and tear and reflect enhancements after repairs and part replacements.
It is also meant to quantify and reduce uncertainty in digital twins, create digital twins for human-robot collaboration, leverage digital twin software for simulation and “what-if” analysis, and develop Autotwin, a software designed to generate and run digital twins.
“Everyone’s building digital twins, but we’re trying to build the glue or connectivity that enables digital twins to work together — to be composable, reusable and maintainable,” said Dawn Tilbury, chair of the Ronald D. and Regina C. McNeil Department at U-M.
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