U-M, ASU Launch Research Center for Digital Twins in Manufacturing
The University of Michigan and Arizona State University have launched an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center to develop digital twins for manufacturing. The center, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aims to solve challenges facing digital twin developers and users.
The research center has a budget of $1.5 million over 5 years from the NSF to support administrative costs, while industry partners each pay annual dues of $90,000 to fund research projects. The founding partners are GM, Honeywell, Intel, Applied Dynamics, Applied Materials, and the U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center.
The center has identified four initial research projects: synchronizing physical and simulation models for identifying machine faults, defect detection in metal additive manufacturing, exploring foundation models to draw insights from historical data, and digital twins of workers to help machines make better decisions about how to assist them.