From simulation to experimentable digital twins: Simulation-based development and operation of complex technical systems

Way beyond its industrial roots, robotics evolved to be a highly interdisciplinary field with a variety of applications in a smart world. The eRobotics methodology addresses this evolution by providing platforms where roboticist can exchange ideas and collaborate with experts from other disciplines for developing complex technical systems and automated solutions. Virtual Testbeds are the central method in eRobotics, where complex technical systems and their interaction with prospective working environments are first designed, programmed, controlled and optimized in simulation before commissioning the real system. On the other hand, Industry 4.0 concepts promote the notion of “Digital Twins”, virtual substitutes of real world objects consisting of virtual representations and communication capabilities making up smart objects acting as intelligent nodes inside the internet of things and services. Combining these two approaches, Virtual Testbeds and Digital Twins, leads to a new kind of “Experimentable Digital Twins” breaking new ground in the simulation-based development and operation of complex technical systems. In this contribution, we describe how such “Experimentable Digital Twins” can act as the very core of simulation-based development processes streamlining the development process, enabling detailed simulations at system level and realizing intelligent systems. Besides this, the multiple use of models and simulations in various scenarios significantly reduces the effort for the use of simulation technology throughout the life cycle of complex technical systems.