Virtual Reality

Digital twins connect physical and digital systems, furthering efficiency, enabling predictive maintenance, and allowing the production of more customized products. Despite these advantages, challenges such as high costs, data synchronization, and security risks hinder widespread adoption. This article explores the potential of digital twins and examines key barriers to integration and implementation, also considering some industrial applications including additive manufacturing as a relevant use case.

Transforming formats such as showrooms, laboratories or exhibitions into a virtual presence offers both opportunities and challenges. Particularly with cyber-physical systems (CPS), which rely heavily on user interaction, extensive adaptations must be made in order to maintain their purpose and function virtually. As part of this research project, digital solutions from different technologies and fields of application were transferred to a virtual exhibition. On this basis, the influence of the digital transformation on the interactivity and emulation of the solutions was analyzed. This article presents a framework that supports practitioners in the implementation of virtual representations.

Metaverse-based training programs offer a realistic and risk-free learning environment that is particularly valuable in industrial contexts, e.g. in immersive training and the simulation of workflows. Challenges remain in the areas of data protection, technological acceptance and integration into existing systems. Using a carefully crafted questionnaire, four expert interviews were conducted to investigate whether the metaverse can innovate training programs effectively and lastingly. Its standardized format yields comparable, reliable data while allowing for an accurate evaluation of the results.

Every day there are cyber attacks in the industrial sector − only the most spectacular incidents make the headlines. Like the attack on the automotive supplier Continental last summer or on the commercial vehicle supplier SAF-Holland in March this year. The financial damage caused by such attacks and the loss of trust among customers and employees are enormous. As protection against cyber attacks, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) now recommends that companies use a browser with so-called virtualised instances for the first time. This is because most attacks enter company networks via the internet. Such a browser can systematically keep attackers out of the network and is therefore a particularly effective protection.

Digital twins are an important part of the Industry 4.0 idea. They mirror physical goods in the digital world and enhance them with additional capabilities and functions for analysis, forecasting and decisionmaking. This paper contributes to the classification and assessment of Digital Twins using a multidimensional maturity model. The presented method "DT-Assess" enables an application-specific assessment of Digital Twins. The developed maturity model consists of seven categories with a total of 31 characteristics to be evaluated. The systematic evaluation in five application scenarios allows, for the first time, a classification of the respective "digital twin" implementation or concept with the aim of identifying further development options and weaknesses.

Learning factories offer the possibility to plan, execute and analyze the knowledge imparted in theory on realistic industrial systems. This article analyzes the potential of developing and operating a learning factory in a virtual environment. For this purpose, institutions with learning factories are surveyed regarding the challenges and desires in the operation of learning factories and the mentioned aspects are discussed with regard to their representability in Virtual Reality. The result shows that Virtual Reality positively influences a large part of the aspects and has a high potential to solve current challenges in the establishment and operation of learning factories.