Digital Twin

Using a collection of depth cameras and LiDARs, the Digital Twin continuously maps the Monash Smart Manufacturing Lab, building a spatial understanding of the objects in it that updates as the environment changes. The system classifies and tracks how the lab changes over time and uses that knowledge to improve its own understanding. Tracked details include item poses, positions, centre of mass and size.

As a proof of concept for Industry 4.0 manufacturing, the twin tracks every object, person, 3D printer, sensor and KUKA robot in real time: location, pose and state. This unified data layer, driven and exposed in ROS 2, enables AI-driven scheduling and process optimisation. A controlled lab lets us test and prove concepts quickly and at low risk, creating a blueprint that scales to industrial production.

Future iterations will integrate a simulation environment, helping to enable automation in the lab. Testing of simulations, our autoprint system and robot fleet navigation all become possible without double handling.