A Digital Twin-based Framework of Motion Control and State Monitoring for Pneumatic Muscle

Introduction: The current digital twin systems usually have the drawback of high cost and complex technology, and it is necessary to develop a simple solution to reduce the cost and cycle for the development of digital twin systems, especially for small projects or systems with simple structures. Objective: A low-cost patent technology of digital twin system was proposed by taking the motion control and state monitoring system (MCSMS) of pneumatic muscle as an example. Methods: The MCSMS is developed based on the browser/server architecture. The software of 3ds Max and SolidWorks are used to make the virtual model, Three.js and JavaScript are applied to build the browser side. Data of the physical world is collected and processed on the server side firstly, and then is sent to the browser side through HTTP communication protocol to realize data interchange between the browser and server. Results: In the roaming experiment and the experiment of motion control and state monitoring of pneumatic muscle, the MCSMS can work smoothly without obvious delay and has good real-time performance, which can realize the 3D visual monitoring of the pneumatic muscle very well. Conclusion: The experimental results indicate that the proposed method possesses the ability of good feasibility and effectiveness.