Enabling Digital Twins with XR & ReCap

As I recently discussed in my, "XR and the Future of AEC," presentation at the National BIM Conference in Anaheim, CA, there are two key enabling technologies that help democratize access to digital twins: eXtended Reality (XR) and reality capture (ReCap). While XR and ReCap have been around for decades in some form or another, the AECO industry is now on the verge of recognizing their true potential as complementary tools to imagine, build, and operate complex facilities throughout their lifecycle.

The simplest way to relate ReCap and XR tools is by envisioning the flow of light and data in opposite directions. Let me explain:

In world of cameras and projectors, the optics and arrangement of lenses along an axis are nearly identical. The primary difference between them, is this:

·??????In cameras, light comes in from the real world, passes through lenses, and strikes a sensor within internal electronics that records the image

·??????In projectors, light is emitted from an image known within internal electronics, passes through lenses, and out to (a projection screen in) the real world

In this way, ReCap tools, such as LiDAR/laser scanning, photogrammetry, and 360 photos, are similar to cameras, capturing a known reality and recording it digitally and spatially. Further, XR tools such as mixed reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality (all the realities!) displays are akin to projectors, with light emitted and overlaid upon the physical environment digitally and spatially. The light passing through the lenses in a Trimble X7 scanner, for example, is meaningfully going the opposite direction ?between the real world and the internal electronics as the light passing through the lenses in a Trimble XR10 mixed reality display.

Because of these similar, but opposing, directions of light flow, XR and ReCap tools become complementary technologies enabling and democratizing access to digital twins.

Recap allows a digital experience of the physical environment, where XR (especially augmented reality), allows a physical experience of the digital environment.

These tools also enable interesting workflows for the AECO stakeholders who wish to make more effective decisions to create a more sustainable, affordable, and equitable built environment. Specifically, it enables a “capture-to-confidence” workflow in which Recap can document the physical world, making it available for digital computation and analysis such as BIM, generative design, simulation, optimization, predictive analytics, and more. Upon completion of the computation and analysis, the data can then be overlaid back onto the physical world, empowering effective decisions by providing greater confidence and understanding through natural, spatial, immersive experience.

But the workflow need not be a linear one! In the context of a functional digital twin doesn’t simply represent an “as-built” physical reality, but also simulates behaviors and actions of a functioning facility (further enabled by technologies like IoT and AI/ML), the workflow can become circular. That is, ReCap enables the digital experience of the physical twin, and makes spatially-recorded data available for computation and analysis as described above. Once that computation and analysis of the digital twin is complete, spatial data is available for projection and overlay by XR tools, enabling the physical experience of the digital twin. At this point, action can be performed on a facility, by a construction labor crew, a commissioning agent, or a facility engineer. When their actions on the facility are completed, they can then leverage ReCap tools to once again capture the revised state of the physical twin, making updated spatial data available for further computation. The cycle repeats throughout the lifecycle of the facility.

Today’s emerging ReCap and XR tools are already delivering tangible business value, and will continue to do so as the technology matures and becomes more widely adopted. But when ReCap and XR are used together, they can enable digital twins and more effective decision-making through human-centric, spatial experience. In short, they give AECO stakeholders a fighting chance to keep up with designing, building, and operating complex data and facilities in the 21st century.