2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper focuses on demonstrating how course modules could be developed via digital twins to improve students’ learning experiences. The authors have taught a course named “creating digital twins of the IIT campus” two times in fall 2021 and spring 2022 and have leveraged inexpensive resources as well as open access and open-source tools to engage students in the process. The course started with utilizing iPads equipped with low-cost Lidar sensors to create the digital twins of campus. Students from different disciplines, ranging from architecture, engineering, computer science and engineering deployed different software packages, including but not limited to AutoDesk ReCap, AutoDesk Revit, Blender, Cloud Compare, Rhino, and Open3D package in Python to construct points cloud data in a 3D map space for campus buildings. Students created, collected, and combined the 3D data which will form the foundational layer of the digital twin. Then, they demonstrated the implications of these scans to: (i) create an entire scan of a new building on campus and develop building drawings (e.g., AutoCAD) and models (i.e., Revit); (ii) develop a game to utilize the scans; (iii) conduct asset management of the campus resources enabling to visualize the rooms, space information, and additional layers of information such as schedule of classes or inventory of furniture; (iv) utilize the scans to infer knowledge from the domain; and (v) demonstrate the use of the scanned data for the virtual reality (VR) for visualization, game development, other applications using Oculus headsets. This active learning process was under instructors’ supervision, and they continuously provided guidance on how to work through the steps of problem-solving from the perspective of different disciplines. Students worked as teams to also identify stakeholders that would benefit from potential solutions. We also utilized a novel dissemination process and asked students to create YouTube videos. Overall, this paper is an ongoing effort to expand these active teaching usecases and include them in other courses, especially Architectural Engineering courses, in the near future to enable students to benefit from these functionalities in a digital twins domain.