Redefining "digital twins" and using mixed reality and artificial intelligence to enhance frontline staff

Figure | DataMesh founder and CEO Li Jie

In Li Jie’s opinion, there is no single definition of “digital twin” in a narrow sense, and it needs to be redefined in a targeted manner when it is implemented in specific scenarios.

The massive data connectivity brought by 5G and the popularization of IoT data collection have driven the industrial Internet among the seven major sectors of the "new infrastructure" to be improved. In the seemingly huge wave and the chaotic industry exploration, Li Jie, the founder of DataMesh, has explored his own methods in the field he continues to focus on - digital twins.

In Li Jie's opinion, there is no single definition of "Digital Twin" in a narrow sense, and it needs to be redefined in a targeted manner when it is implemented in specific scenarios.

In the manufacturing industry, it is a common demand to reduce costs and increase efficiency for the use scenarios of the vast number of front-line workers. In the face of the problem of "reducing costs and increasing efficiency", DataMesh Digital Twin uses the technology of "mixed reality + artificial intelligence" to create an operating system in the digital twin era to help front-line employees of enterprises.

Li Jie's academic research before his first business was related to digital twin simulation systems. He used statistical energy methods combined with 3D CAD simulation to calculate the energy distribution of the sound field in an aircraft cabin. Since then, in his 8-year career in Microsoft Cloud and enterprise-level search and collaboration product development, he gained know-how on digital transformation in enterprise services and experience in building a SaaS product business model. In 2014, he founded DataMesh, which is now an industry-leading enterprise digital twin platform and AR/MR application provider, with good business performance in overseas markets such as China, Japan, Singapore, and the United States.

Entering the market with mixed reality technology, DataMesh digital twins help companies reduce costs and increase efficiency

What is a digital twin? Li Jie, founder and CEO of DataMesh, said that the term "digital twin" in a broad sense has a long history. Initially, it mainly referred to the mapping of data flows and information flows between the real world and virtual space. Later, it gradually covered the entire life cycle from product design to manufacturing process management, and now it has further expanded to production line operation and maintenance, product after-sales, fault diagnosis and other front-line fields. From an industry perspective, the application of digital twins has also expanded from a single manufacturing industry to smart healthcare, smart parks, smart cities and other fields.

However, in a narrow sense, "digital twin" is not a single special technology, nor is it a single specific data. Therefore, when applied to specific scenarios, "it is necessary to redefine what the digital twin of the scenario is, what the corresponding data, physical phenomena and processes are, and what practical problems it can solve."

While many people still regard AR/MR as a cool way of visualization, Li Jie and his team have defined it as the next generation of "screen" for humans, a key technology that subverts human-computer interaction and collaboration. Mixed reality technology (MR) provides an intuitive data overlay and three-dimensional visual effect, which can greatly reduce the learning cost of front-line personnel. In addition, "the front-line work environment requires every second of time. We need to be able to let the data actively find the scene, rather than people spending time repeatedly looking for data based on the scene. Artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial in this regard."

MR+AI, a seemingly "cross-border" technology combination, DataMesh digital twin platform solves many pain points encountered by customers in digital transformation based on this. "Our middle platform solves the common problems of chaotic data standards, poor reuse, and backward support for mobile devices in enterprises. It supports more than 80% of AR glasses and mobile devices on the front end, which can directly allow users to have a high-standard visual experience, and also allow experts and partners to continue to develop highly reusable applications based on our framework."

In fact, Li Jie has always had a "North Star" in his heart, which guides him and his team to use 3D, IoT and knowledge-based data to push the knowledge needed by front-line personnel to the right people at the right time and in the right place, so as to solve problems more efficiently. In addition, in order to enable customers who already have data to have landing scenarios immediately, DataMesh has also conducted in-depth research on several major scenarios such as operation training, remote collaboration and support, and maintenance inspections, and then provided efficient first-party applications, so that front-line personnel who do not understand technology can quickly understand and integrate into the digital twin through visual standard front-end products to carry out practical work, and ultimately achieve the corporate goal of improving efficiency and making management more process-oriented.

He emphasized, "We mainly use new technologies to drive the old businesses. These businesses originally had high costs, and new technologies can break the original cost logic and achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement."

The watershed of the track lies in whether the product can be reused

As mentioned earlier, "digital twin" is a very broad concept, which includes several different fields, such as CAD and CAE, which are almost monopolized by foreign countries. For example, PLM and MES also have a very high threshold for product standardization. "The layer that we at DataMesh focus on has obvious technical barriers in terms of 3D engine control capabilities, spatial mapping capabilities, network concurrency processing capabilities, and product standardization capabilities."

To sum it up in one sentence, "The watershed standard lies in whether the product can be reused." Li Jie told Magnet.com, "DataMesh's first-mover advantage at home and abroad and its strong product capabilities have made the solution practical, reusable (SaaS), and able to accumulate more know-how, forming a positive closed loop, providing enterprises with more professional and comprehensive digital twin solutions. The recognition of high-quality customers and product reuse will bring irreversible time-based advantages."

In the vertical field, DataMesh is working with enterprise partners in the field of data collection and industrial Internet platforms to explore the refined operation of the manufacturing industry based on digital twins. In the long run, this will also lay a long-term strategic foundation for industrial customers in the process of digitalization.

At the same time, in terms of ecosystem construction, Li Jie talked about it in detail - it seems that this startup team has been down-to-earth but ambitious in the past few years. "We have made a comprehensive layout from 5G operators, XR hardware companies, global channel vendors, software integrators to vertical industry partners. We are already a 5G partner of NTT DOCOMO, joined the Qualcomm XR ecosystem, and are the first Microsoft MRPP to adapt to HoloLens 2. We have reached strategic cooperation with domestic AR manufacturers such as Nreal, signed global channel cooperation agreements with Ingram Micro, Marubeni, Otsuka Shokai, and Yokogawa Rental & Lease, and promoted products with large system integrators such as Fujitsu, TIS, JBS, Digital China, and Boyan Technology as partners. While continuously strengthening product capabilities, channel and ecosystem construction are our top priorities in the future."

at last

At present, DataMesh has become the first alumni enterprise of Suzhou Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Center. It is understood that Suzhou Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Center is the first project of Microsoft's innovation empowerment and ecological acceleration plan to be implemented globally, focusing on the new generation of information technology industry led by artificial intelligence. Li Jie mentioned in the interview that the bridge built by the park between innovative technologies and mature industries has greatly promoted the localized business expansion or business model exploration of start-up teams. Therefore, the Suzhou office was established last year, hoping to deepen the corporate customers of Suzhou Industrial Park and take the lead in deploying the benchmark case of "digital twin application" in the industrial manufacturing industry in the Yangtze River Delta region.

At the end of the interview, Li Jie’s powerful words also made us believe that what he firmly believed, “DataMesh Digital Twin empowers front-line employees”, has a promising future.