Leveraging Digital Twins for Assisted Learning of Flexible Manufacturing Systems

In manufacturing engineering, the necessity for the development of effective learning experiences that inspire enduring production related competencies cannot be stressed enough. Of late, with advances of the IT sector and the growth of computational power of modern computer systems, it has become possible to build software-intensive complex systems. Breakthroughs in information and communication technologies now mean that technologies that were elusive for mainstream adoption are now finding place in non-mainstream domains which can prove advantageous. One such application is proposed in this paper. The concept of Digital Twins has been around for decades. It has found applications in diverse sectors including healthcare, aerospace and manufacturing. However it has not found an application in the education sector yet. This paper investigates the use of Digital Twins for fostering the education process of flexible manufacturing systems based on a sound pedagogical theory, i.e., Kolbs Experiential Learning. An use case of the proposed framework is presented and later discussed.