CESI
Internship VLF4EU : Interface and control of an educational device in extended reality through its digital twin
🇫🇷Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France3 months ago
Up to €8,000Entry
Laboratory presentation
CESI LINEACT (UR 7527), Laboratory for Digital Innovation for Businesses and Learning to Support the Competitiveness of Territories, anticipates and accompanies the technological mutations of sectors and services related to industry and construction. The historical proximity of CESI to companies is a determining factor in our research activities. It has led us to focus our efforts on applied research close to companies and in partnership with them. A human-centered approach coupled with the use of technologies, as well as territorial networking and links with training, has enabled the construction of cross-cutting research; it puts humans, their needs, and their uses at the center of its issues and addresses the technological angle through these contributions.
Its research is organized according to two interdisciplinary scientific teams and several application areas.
Team 1 "Learning and Innovating" mainly concerns Cognitive Sciences, Social Sciences, and Management Sciences, Training Techniques, and those of Innovation. The main scientific objectives are the understanding of the effects of the environment, and, more particularly, of situations instrumented by technical objects (platforms, prototyping workshops, immersive systems...) on learning, creativity, and innovation processes.
Team 2 "Engineering and Digital Tools" mainly concerns Digital Sciences and Engineering. The main scientific objectives focus on modeling, simulation, optimization, and data analysis of cyber-physical systems. Research also focuses on decision-support tools and on the study of human-system interactions, particularly through digital twins coupled with virtual or augmented environments.
These two teams develop and cross their research in application areas such as
Industry 5.0,
Construction 4.0 and Sustainable City,
Digital Services.
Areas supported by research platforms, mainly the one in Rouen dedicated to Factory 5.0 and the one in Nanterre dedicated to Factory 5.0 and Construction 4.0.
Abstract
The study explores the development and utilization of digital twins and extended reality tools to enhance remote maintenance procedures, focusing on creating a functional digital twin and developing an interface for device control in extended reality.Keywords : Extended Reality, Digital twin
The technological advancements of Industry 4.0 and the human-centric approaches of Industry 5.0 have paved the way for the implementation of new methodologies and technologies, including digital twins (DT) and extended reality (XR) tools. However, the increasing complexity of installations, combined with the need for external expertise during maintenance operations, calls for a rethinking of remote assistance methods. To address these challenges, our work focuses on utilizing these technologies to improve maintenance procedures. As part of this internship, several stages of this process will be studied. Initially, it will be necessary to create a digital twin of one of our devices used in training, based on the already developed 3D model. To make it functional, the physical model will need to be formalized and the mathematical model integrated into the digital twin. Finally, the development of the interface and control of the device in extended reality will constitute the final stage of this work.
Research Work
The fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0 (I4.0), emerged in 2011, focusing on the digitalization and automation of industrial processes to improve the quality and reliability of systems. In this context, one of the most costly processes in industry is maintenance. I4.0 has enabled the development of new maintenance strategies, such as predictive maintenance, which anticipates failures based on data collected by sensors, and prescriptive maintenance, which suggests corrective actions based on this data. These strategies help reduce maintenance costs and generate substantial savings.
However, the growing complexity of industrial equipment requires easy access to information for operators. Remote assistance has become essential, especially in situations where it is difficult or costly to relocate experts. In the context of Industry 5.0 (Guo et al., 2024; Maddikunta et al., 2022), human-centric approach integrating Extended reality (XR) technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), offer solutions to enhance remote collaboration, allowing an on-site operator to interact with an expert without the need for physical relocation.
The study focuses on the use of virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) to facilitate inspections and maintenance activities of industrial equipment and associated training phases. By using digital twins (DT) interfaced in XR (XR DT) based on digital models of equipment, these technologies allow experts to guide operators remotely (Coupry et al., 2023), while providing a virtual environment that enables real-time interaction. The goal is to ensure effective collaboration and guarantee the interoperability of tools between the expert and the operator, regardless of their location.
Subject
As part of the JENII project, the CESI LINEACT laboratory is developing INTERVALES (Richard et al., 2021) and LINEACT UA (Havard et al., 2023) frameworks to design XR DT, guides for effective pedagogical scenarios, feedback, and concrete examples of digital twins of industrial systems. The latest work proposes a workflow for creating an OPCUA server, integrating tools such as Unity, asyncua, and Docker. It introduces an architecture where physical objects (robots, production lines) can be simulated or connected via OPCUA servers, enabling remote interaction through immersive applications. These tools have been deployed in the engineering program at CESI school as part of a project to automate a manual gluing workstation on a production line. Learners are tasked with transforming this workstation using a 3D printer converted into a gluing machine and integrating it into the production line. The production line has already been studied, as a digital twin has previously been created.
Based on these results and in the context of the VLF4EU (Virtual Learning Factory Networking and Strategy Build Up: Supporting EUropean Industrial Digitisation Competitiveness and Growth for All) project, the goal of this project is to build on the work already completed to create a digital twin of the gluing machine, integrate it with the existing tools, and ultimately develop a mixed reality interface to control the gluing machine in real time through its digital twin.
Skills
Scientific and technical skills: Python, C#, Unity
Soft skills:
Autonomy, initiative, curiosity
Teamwork ability and good interpersonal skills
Rigorousness
Workplace : CESI Saint-Etienne du Rouvray
Start date : 01/03/2026
Duration : 6 months
