Building Digital Twin of Mobile Robotics Testbed Using Centralized Localization System

Abstract

The digital twin (DT), recognized as a crucial tool for laboratory automation and smart factories, can visualize, simulate, and control its counterpart as digitalization advances. To ensure system validation, precise state synchronization is required between the DT and the physical twin (PT). More specifically, the real-time position is regarded as the vital metric when mobile robots are implemented. In this paper, we propose a DT system for the mobile robot testbed with the aid of a centralized, integrated localization system. The integrated localization system is realized via the robot's onboard sensor, images from the monitor camera, and an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which enables the PT's real-time state to be estimated and transmitted to the DT controller. Additionally, the DT system integrates 3D simulation functions and provides a port for physical robot control. The proposed approach offers a state synchronization solution that does not rely on a single robot's sophisticated sensors or localization ability, indicating the potential for integrating robots with different technological capabilities.