Keynotes/Invited Lectures


From Digital Twins to the Metaverse: Exploring the Evolution of Responsive Systems and Social Interaction in Industry
Prof. Diego Galar
Lulea University of Technology
Abstract:
A digital twin is not a static model but a responsive system that connects physical and digital systems. It has numerous potential applications in industry, and is also known as a digital shadow, digital mirror, digital model, or digital avatar. However, industries require a more attractive proposition than just a one-to-one digital twinning process. They demand the creation of a virtual scenario where virtual instances gather together with the twins of real ones. We call this scenario the ‘metaverse’ - a digital replica of our reality where all physical assets are twinned along with entities that only exist in the digital dimension. The metaverse is the digital dimension where the digital entities interact, and is the expansion of digital twins with more content and social meaning.

Importantly, the metaverse has a scalable environment that can accommodate many entities, thus reinforcing social meaning among the digital twins coexisting in the space and participating in it. It is crucial for maintainers to keep an eye on the evolution of digital twins and how they transfer those replicas to the metaverse. This is because degradation mechanisms, maintenance plans, and prognostics will seriously affect the digital twin once it starts interacting in the digital arena with its counterparts.
Speaker’s Biography:
Dr. Diego Galar is Full Professor of Condition Monitoring in the Division of Operation and Maintenance Engineering at LTU, Luleå University of Technology where he has coordinated several European projects related to different aspects of cyber physical systems, Industry 4.0, IoT or Industrial AI and Big Data. He was also involved in the SKF UTC centre located in Lulea focused on SMART bearings and also actively involved in national projects with the Swedish industry or funded by Swedish national agencies like Vinnova.
He was also principal researcher in Tecnalia (Spain), heading the Maintenance and Reliability research group within the Division of Industry and Transport and Professor in Skovde University holding the Volvo chair.
He has authored more than five hundred journal and conference papers, books and technical reports in the field of maintenance, working also as member of editorial boards, scientific committees and chairing international journals and conferences and actively participating in national and international committees for standardization and R&D in the topics of reliability and maintenance.
In the international arena, he has been visiting Professor in the Polytechnic of Braganza (Portugal), University of Valencia and NIU (USA) and the Universidad Pontificia Católica de Chile. Currently, he is currently visiting professor in University of Sunderland (UK), University of Maryland (USA), and Chongqing University in China

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