Digital twins benefits and challenges from intelligent motion control point of view

This paper analyses the digital twins’ current status and future interests in the intelligent motion control domain based on the web survey conducted within a large European research project named IMOCO4.E. We aim to understand how the companies and institutions developing and utilizing digital twin technologies see the main benefits, challenges and next steps in their domain. We conclude, based on the survey, that digital twins are used, primarily in the design phase, to speed up the development of complex systems where utilizing physical prototypes is not feasible or even possible. The operational phase utilization is not yet seen as important, but it has great potential, especially when the development of digital twins has become more mature in relation to real-time interfacing, exact representation of real physical objects, and maintainability of implementation.