ERDC Digital Twin Research and Development
This material is based upon work supported by the Engineering Research and Development Center - Information Technology Laboratory (ERDC-ITL) under Contract No. W912HZ23C0009. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ERDC- ITL.
Project
The University of Tulsa (TU) is collaborating with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in the development of a Virtual Immersive, Remote Sensing and Actuation (VIRSA) system, which centers around digital entities being interconnected and visually represented in VR. Within the VR environment, automatic, bi-directional communication (digital twinning) will allow users to exchange information with mobile robotic devices and a diverse array of sensors. The process of developing the VIRSA system begins with the creation of a digital model of each installation within VR that replicates major entities of its physical structure.
Approach
The project is organized into five teams: Knowledge Core, Sensors and Networks, Mobile Robotics, Cyber Security, and Virtual Reality (VR). As a member of the VR team, I conducted research on various methods for creating digital models, captured physical spaces using photogrammetry and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scans, developed and textured digital models from these scans, and integrated them into our Unity project. I modeled the Boston Dynamics Spot Platform and am working with the robotics team on positioning and localization of the mobile robotics Spot units in VR in real-time.
Physical Entities with Digital Counterparts
Boston Dynamics Robotic Spot Unit
CREDITS
Role: Research, 3D Modeling, Texturing, UV Mapping
Tools: Unity, Blender, Photoshop, Matterport Pro V3 Camera, iPad Pro 11
Other: This grant was obtained from the Army Corp Engineering Research and Development - Information Technology Lab by the University of Tulsa. Many faculty, PH.D, Masters, and Undergraduate students have contributed in different capacities across the lifetime of the project.
