A review of digital twin in product design and development

In the era of digitalization, there are many emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Twin (DT), Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which are quickly developped and used in product design and development. Among those technologies, DT is one promising technology which has been widely used in different industries, especially manufacturing, to monitor the performance, optimize the progresses, simulate the results and predict the potential errors. DT also plays various roles within the whole product lifecycle from design, manufacturing, delivery, use and end-of-life. With the growing demands of individualized products and implementation of Industry 4.0, DT can provide an effective solution for future product design, development and innovation. This paper aims to figure out the current states of DT research focusing on product design and development through summarizing typical industrial cases. Challenges and potential applications of DT in product design and development are also discussed to inspire future studies.

Automated summary

In the era of digitalization, emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Twin (DT), Cloud Computing, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are quickly developed and used in product design and development. Among these technologies, Digital Twin is widely used in different industries, especially manufacturing, to monitor performance, optimize progress, simulate results, and predict potential errors. It plays various roles throughout the product lifecycle and can provide effective solutions for future product design, development, and innovation in the age of Industry 4.0. Challenges and potential applications of Digital Twin in product design and development are discussed to inspire future studies.