Towards AI-based Sustainable and XR-based human-centric manufacturing: Implementation of ISO 23247 for digital twins of production systems

Preprint, 2025

Since the introduction of Industry 4.0, digital twin technology has significantly evolved, laying the groundwork for a transition toward Industry 5.0 principles centered on human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience. Through digital twins, real-time connected production systems are anticipated to be more efficient, resilient, and sustainable, facilitating communication and connectivity between digital and physical systems. However, environmental performance and integration with virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) of such systems remain challenging. Further exploration of digital twin technologies is needed to validate the real-world impact and benefits. This paper investigates these challenges by implementing a real-time digital twin based on the ISO 23247 standard, connecting the physical factory and simulation software with VR capabilities. This digital twin system provides cognitive assistance and a user-friendly interface for operators, thereby improving cognitive ergonomics. The connection of the Internet of Things (IoT) platform allows the digital twin to have real-time bidirectional communication, collaboration, monitoring, and assistance. A lab-scale drone factory was used as the digital twin application to test and evaluate the ISO 23247 standard and its potential benefits. Additionally, AI integration and environmental performance Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been considered as the next stages in improving VR-integrated digital twins. With a solid theoretical foundation and a demonstration of the VR-integrated digital twins, this paper addresses integration issues between various technologies and advances the framework of digital twins based on ISO 23247.