Attaining Learning Objectives by Ontological Reasoning using Digital Twins

Abstract Learning Factories provide a propitious learning environment for nurturing production related competencies. However, several problems continue to plague their widespread adoption. This study mentions these issues before proposing the use of digital twins as an alternative. The study presents an approach towards modelling such a digital twin and proposes a solution that uses ontologies to develop a formal representation of the domain (a flexible manufacturing system) and the learning that occurs in the environment. A reasoning mechanism is used deduce inferences from the ontology to facilitate automated assessment of the learner. A use-case for the pedagogic digital twin is presented and discussed before proposing future directions for work.