The concept of a digital twin has been around for a while. It is used to describe a digital
representation of a physical thing on some abstraction level that continuously maps
to the state of the physical thing. Before the introduction of cyber-physical
systems this has been called a model.
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| Source: https://iiot-world.com/digital-disruption/the-right-representation-of-digital-twins-for-data-analytics/ |
Digital twins are widely used nowadays when we interact with physical things such as cars or robots. The beauty of the concept is that you can interact with the digital representation mirroring the behaviour of the actual thing you want to control. Controlling hardware involves embedded programming, adaptors and protocols, and these are abstracted away for you. Examples range from an app for your thermostat to a full representation of a manufacturing plant. And telecom radio sites have digital twins as well.
Looking at my 10-year-old son I start wondering how much physical things
the new generation craves about. He’s very much into the digital world as many
other kids and, unlikely his sister, does not care much about physical stuff.
His room is pretty empty and his most important things are his computer and his
phone. He’s very quick at spending his monthly allowance on computer games and in-app
purchases. His heroes are digital, and physical things are of no interest.
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| Source: https://www.monash.edu/venues/venues/computer-labs |
With my background in computer science I do admire the shift towards the
digital, and the appreciation of pure-software products, with the willingness
to spend money on those. This is a really good trend from the sustainability
perspective as well. But empty rooms are really no fun, and I keep buying my
10-year-old nice pillows, pictures and other decorations.
And now it’s time for me to share my business idea with you – up for
grabs, first come first served! What if we could bring that digital things that
miss the physical side to life through “physical twins”? Similar to Disney et
al selling their soft toys looking like Mermaid or Nemo. But a twin for real,
acting in real-time and real-life, along with its digital original. And it
should not be so big of a step given the 3D-printing techniques, the cost of
motors and modems, and the fact that the digital model has already been
designed. Wouldn’t you love your favourite character from SIMS walk around in
your house? Do you see the scale if we could right-click and order home
physical twins of our favourite game characters? Personally, I would immediately
invest in a couple of friendly dinosaurs from Lost Eden.
