Evolution of Digital Twin in Manufacturing Application: Definition, Architecture, Applications, and Tools

The fourth industrial revolution (I4.0) is based on the digitalization of the manufacturing process and its allied activities. The term Industry 4.0 was introduced in 2011 as part of a technology-based manufacturing project by Germany. The I4.0 came into existence because of the advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, the Internet of Things, and computing technologies. Digital Twin (DT) is a major concept based on the I4.0 technologies and has shown a continuous increase in interest by the industry and research community. This chapter explores the evolution of DT in manufacturing and report various definitions and their scope, architectures, tools/methodologies used in developing DT, and its applications in manufacturing. The DT concept is still evolving and there is a lack of a standard definition and unified architecture for DT application in manufacturing. The interoperability of data and lifecycle maintenance of DT are two big challenges for the adoption of DT in manufacturing industries. Integration of human expertise, improvement of communication protocols, and use of cognition in DT needs to be further explored by the research community. Decision support for decentralized manufacturing, validation of DT model, creation of data lake for digitalization, and DT for inspection are areas where a lot of further research is desired.