The Digital Organism: How We Taught Gipar to Feel the Pulse of Its Equipment
A detailed breakdown of the Digital Organism development for Gipar. It describes how a 'living digital twin' of industrial equipment was created using Mixed Reality, reducing diagnostic time by 22-fold and cutting emergency shutdowns by 70% through proactive maintenance.
Canvas Idea
Reduced diagnostic time by 22x and cut emergency shutdowns by 70%.
Canvas Challenge
Gipar's engineering center was operating in a constant 'firefighting' mode. Diagnosing industrial equipment was a time-consuming quest: locating the right controller, opening the protective casing, halting adjacent processes, and manually cross-referencing dozens of digital indicators. This led to expensive downtime and the ever-present risk of overlooking a minor deviation that could evolve into a major breakdown hours later.
Stroke Solution
Instead of creating a standard HMI panel, we built a 'Digital Organism'—a living digital twin of the equipment. The key decision—the 'one precise stroke'—was to represent the machine's state not with numbers, but with a 'pulse.' A single visual element on the screen pulses slowly in a cool blue during normal operation. As parameters deviate, its rhythm quickens and the color warms to an alarming red. Engineers no longer read data; they instantly feel the machine's condition. A click on the 'pulse' activates an 'X-ray view,' making the digital twin's casing transparent and highlighting the precise source of the problem, eliminating the need for physical intervention.
Value Metrics
- Diagnostic Time Reduced 22-fold: Average fault identification time dropped from 45 minutes of manual searching to under 2 minutes of visual analysis.
- Emergency Shutdowns Cut by 70%: The predictive 'pulse' system enabled a shift to proactive maintenance, addressing potential issues before they caused downtime.
- 100% Elimination of Physical Risk: The 'X-ray view' removed the need to open high-voltage equipment for routine diagnostics, improving operator safety.
Tech Stack
- 3D Engine: Unity 2021.x with C# scripting
- MR Platform: Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRTK) for Unity
- Hardware: Microsoft HoloLens 2
- Data Integration: OPC UA client library for Unity to connect with industrial controllers
- 3D Modeling: Optimization of CAD/BIM models for real-time rendering in HoloLens
“We used to listen to our equipment with a 'stethoscope' of numbers and charts, always half a step behind. Now, we feel its pulse in real time. This is more than just speed—it's a completely different level of confidence and control.”— Dmitry Gazarov