Digital twin-driven dynamic monitoring system of the upper limb force

Abstract

Digital twin represents the core technology to realize the dynamic monitoring of complex industrial systems. However, the human body, as the most complex system in the physical world, digital twin is rarely applied in it. In this study, we successfully demonstrated a digital twin in the human biomedical application by proposing a dynamic monitoring system of the upper limb force. In this system, the real upper limb drives the motion of the virtual one in real-time and dynamically updates the force. Meanwhile, the virtual upper limb feeds back the monitoring-results of the force to the controller of the real upper limb via immersive virtual reality interaction. Experimental results of the typical motions of the upper limb revealed that the proposed system functioned interactively in real-time in a non-invasive manner, while ensuring the accurate solving of the muscle force. In conclusion, our digital twin-driven system is of great importance for rehabilitation medicine, biomechanical scientific research and physical training, promoting the application of the digital twin in the human biomedical field.

Keywords:

• Digital twin
• upper-limb force
• dynamic monitoring
• real-time
• interactive

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [G W], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the [National Natural Science Foundation of China] under Grant [number 61875062]; and [Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities].