Digital Twin
A technological concept where AI agents observe the inputs and outputs of a software system to create a functional replica. This allows for the original, expensive system to be deprecated and replaced.
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8/22/2025, 1:38:18 AM
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8/22/2025, 1:40:39 AM
Summary
A digital twin is a dynamic digital model that serves as a virtual counterpart to a physical product, system, or process, enabling applications such as simulation, testing, monitoring, and maintenance. While its conceptual roots lie in early computer simulations, NASA provided its first practical definition in 2010 to enhance spacecraft simulations. This technology has evolved significantly through advancements in modeling and engineering. In recent years, manufacturing industries have expanded its application beyond product design to encompass the entire production process, offering benefits in areas like inventory management, machinery collision avoidance, tooling design, troubleshooting, and preventive maintenance. This extension allows extended reality and spatial computing to be applied to both the product and its associated business processes. Furthermore, companies like Klarna and 8090 are exploring the integration of digital twin concepts with AI to replace traditional enterprise software systems, demonstrating its potential for widespread technological disruption.
Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
Definition
A dynamic digital model that mirrors a physical product, system, or process, serving as its virtual counterpart for purposes such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance.
Applications
Product design, entire manufacturing process, inventory management, machinery collision avoidance, tooling design, troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, replacing enterprise software systems, clinical research, patient treatment prediction, construction (buildings, infrastructure).
Core Function
Emulates the behavior of a physical system in a virtual environment, receiving real-time data to update itself, predict failures, identify opportunities for change, and prescribe actions for optimization or mitigation of unexpected events.
Key Components
Physical version, software version, and the data that connects them.
Origin of Concept
Early computer simulations generally.
Distinguishing Feature
Must not only represent the geometry but also act like what it represents, incorporating all its components and their dynamic interactions.
Timeline
- NASA used a concept similar to a digital twin during the Apollo 13 mission to address in-flight problems. (Source: Web Search)
1970
- NASA provided the first practical definition of a digital twin to improve physical-model simulation of spacecraft. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)
2010
- Manufacturing industries began extending the digital twin concept beyond product definition to encompass the entire manufacturing process. (Source: Wikipedia)
2010s
- The US DoD Digital Engineering Strategy initiative was first formulated, including a definition of a digital twin. (Source: Web Search)
2018
- Manufacturing industries continued to expand the digital twin concept to the entire manufacturing process. (Source: Wikipedia)
2020s
- Las Vegas created a digital twin of a 7-square-kilometer section of its downtown using 3D laser scanners, drones, and sensors. (Source: Web Search)
2022
- Companies like Klarna are reportedly using AI and Digital Twin concepts to replace expensive incumbent Systems of Record from giants like Salesforce and Workday. (Source: Related Documents)
Recent Years
Wikipedia
View on WikipediaDigital twin
A digital twin is a digital model of an intended or actual real-world physical product, system, or process (a physical twin) that serves as a digital counterpart of it for purposes such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance. "A digital twin is set of adaptive models that emulate the behaviour of a physical system in a virtual system getting real time data to update itself along its life cycle. The digital twin replicates the physical system to predict failures and opportunities for changing, to prescribe real time actions for optimizing and/or mitigating unexpected events observing and evaluating the operating profile system.". Though the concept originated earlier (as a natural aspect of computer simulation generally), the first practical definition of a digital twin originated from NASA in an attempt to improve the physical-model simulation of spacecraft in 2010. Digital twins are the result of continual improvement in modeling and engineering. In the 2010s and 2020s, manufacturing industries began moving beyond digital product definition to extending the digital twin concept to the entire manufacturing process. Doing so allows the benefits of virtualization to be extended to domains such as inventory management including lean manufacturing, machinery crash avoidance, tooling design, troubleshooting, and preventive maintenance. Digital twinning therefore allows extended reality and spatial computing to be applied not just to the product itself but also to all of the business processes that contribute toward its production.
Web Search Results
- Digital twin
Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia ## Contents # Digital twin A digital twin is a digital model of an intended or actual real-world physical product, system, or process (a physical twin) that serves as a digital counterpart of it for purposes such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance "Maintenance (technical)"). [...] A digital twin is set of adaptive models that emulate the behaviour of a physical system in a virtual system getting real time data to update itself along its life cycle. The digital twin replicates the physical system to predict failures and opportunities for changing, to prescribe real time actions for optimizing and/or mitigating unexpected events observing and evaluating the operating profile system. Though the concept originated earlier (as a natural aspect of computer simulation [...] The International Council of Systems Engineers (INCOSE) maintains in its Systems Engineering Book of Knowledge (SEBoK) that: "A digital twin is a related yet distinct concept to digital engineering. The digital twin is a high-fidelity model of the system which can be used to emulate the actual system." The evolving US DoD Digital Engineering Strategy initiative, first formulated in 2018, defines a digital twin as "an integrated multiphysics, multiscale, probabilistic simulation of an as-built
- Digital Twin: Benefits, use cases, challenges, and opportunities
Digital Twin is a cutting-edge technology that has revolutionized the industry by mirroring almost every facet of a product, process, or service. It has the potential to replicate everything in the physical world in the digital space and provide engineers with feedback from the virtual world ( As a result, the technology enables companies to quickly detect and solve physical problems, design and build better products, and realize value and benefits faster than previously possible. Furthermore, [...] machine, service, intangible asset, or a system consisting of a product and its related services”_( In general, the Digital Twin is defined as virtual representations of physical objects across the lifecycle that can be understood, learned, and reasoned with real-time data or a simulation model that acquires data from the field and triggers the operation of physical devices ( ( [...] Digital twin technology has the potential to revolutionize the methodology of clinical research. Digital Twins can be used to predict the impact of experimental treatments on a patient, get better answers, and derive actionable insights without risking their life. In addition, the technology helps healthcare professionals study the infected patient’s data for future research in performing treatment simulations and identifying the most promising paths for further research among real people. (
- 9 advantages and disadvantages of digital twin technology
A digital twin is a virtual model of a real object or series of steps. For example, a car manufacturer might create a digital twin of an assembled car part or a manufacturer might make a digital twin of its factory. A digital twin consists of the physical version of the digital twin, the software version of the digital twin, and the data that connects them.
- Digital Twins in Construction: Benefits and Challenges - Datumate
A digital twinA digital twin is a virtual replica or simulation of a physical object, process, or system. It is a digital model that r… More is a digital copy of a real-world object. This object could be anything from a building to a car. The concept of digital twins isn’t new. NASA first used it during the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. When the mission faced problems, NASA used a digital twinA digital twin is a virtual replica or simulation of a physical object, process, or system. It is a [...] Las Vegas Digital TwinA digital twin is a virtual replica or simulation of a physical object, process, or system. It is a digital model that r… More: In 2022, Las Vegas created a digital twinA digital twin is a virtual replica or simulation of a physical object, process, or system. It is a digital model that r… More of a 7-square-kilometer section of its downtown. The project used 3D laser scanners, drones, and various sensors. The digital twinA digital twin is a virtual replica or simulation [...] Contractors are increasingly adopting digital twinA digital twin is a virtual replica or simulation of a physical object, process, or system. It is a digital model that r… More starter sets. These pre-configured packages include the necessary hardware and software to create and maintain digital twins.
- What Are Digital Twins and How Can They Be Used ...
“A digital twin is a model of an entity that incorporates all its components and their dynamic interactions,” says Natalia Trayanova, Murray B. Sachs professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and director of the Alliance for Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Innovation at Johns Hopkins. “You can’t just have the geometry and rotate it. You have to show how the components interact with [...] In its simplest form, a digital twin can be defined as a virtual model of a physical object. However, the technology is often more complicated than that. In healthcare, a digital twin could represent a population or even a human heart. The thing that differentiates a digital twin from a 3D model is that it must also act like what it represents.
DBPedia
View on DBPediaLocation Data
ASCon Systems, The Digital Twin Company, 56, Mombacher Straße, Hartenberg, Hartenberg-Münchfeld, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, 55122, Deutschland
Coordinates: 50.0108040, 8.2438978
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