A Systemic Human Digital Twin Model for Human-Centric Systems

Human Digital Twins (HDT) are a key technology to enable human-centric manufacturing systems. This paper presents a novel meta-model for HDTs, grounded in general systems theory, to provide a unified and robust conceptualisation for HDT development. The model describes four essential interacting systems categorised by the physical or digital nature of their components; (i) the Human Individual is a physical system composed of a physiological, cognitive and mechanical sub-system among others; (ii) the Human Digital Twin is a digital system composed of a human model, data storage and management capabilities, and functions to generate feedback for the human; (iii) Sensors are cyber-physical systems capturing observations about the human and digitising them for the HDT; (iv) Human-Machine Interaction Devices are cyber-physical systems enabling the human to receive feedback form the HDT and interact with it. The systemic grounding provides a general model of an HDT as an extension of a DT representing any kind of system. It clarifies the relations and interfaces between its four main sub-systems, as well as the data flows and feedback mechanism. The HDT’s Communication Interface is identified as key component to integrate HDTs into larger digital ecosystems and enable human-centric system development.