Utilizing Augmented Reality to Create and Control a Digital Twin of a Collaborative Robot

Robotic automation is an integral part of modern industry. It is thus imperative to prepare students of engineering and computer science to handle industrial robots. However, as stopping a single machine can impact the productivity of an entire facility, training on live machinery might not always be feasible. Likewise, setting up enough laboratory space and equipment for students to use during their studies requires much available space and funding and thus also might not always be feasible. This paper presents a prototype of a digital twin for a collaborative robot arm. The digital twin makes use of augmented reality for visualisation and connects to either a physical robot or a simulated robot controller inside a virtual machine. Several aspects of the implementation as well as limitations and lessons learned are described.