The China International High-Tech Expo (CHITEC), also known as the China Hi-Tech Fair, is one of the most influential scientific and technological exhibitions in China. It is held annually at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Shenzhen, China. The 25th edition of CHITEC is scheduled to take place from November 15th to 19th, 2023. As one of the key platforms for technological innovation in China, the fair brings together domestic and international technology companies, innovative products, and solutions, showcasing the latest developments and cutting-edge technologies in the field of science and technology.

At this year’s CHITEC, the Centre for Applied Mathematics at the University of Macau, in collaboration with the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, showcased the virtual reality-based digital twin technology, attracting widespread attention from industry experts, business representatives, and the general public.

Digital twin is a technology that involves digitizing entities, objects, and processes from the physical world to create a coexistence of physical entities in the physical dimension and virtual models in the information dimension. This technology is based on physical laws and utilizes supercomputers for numerical simulations. By combining technologies like Mixed Reality (MR), virtual models are created to simulate, deduce, and plan various aspects of the physical world.

A joint team led by Prof Xiao-Chuan Cai, Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) and Chair Professor of the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Science and Technology has been engaged in long-term research on algorithms and software related to digital twin technology. They have developed multiple sets of high-performance algorithms and software targeting the fields of biomedical engineering, industrial design, and smart cities. The team has successfully developed several prototypes of digital twin systems, allowing interaction with the models through gestures and presenting the results intuitively to users via holographic glasses.

Two important digital twin systems among these prototypes are:

• Virtual Operating Room: This system utilizes holographic glasses as the interface to present three-dimensional digitized human organs. Doctors can interact with the models using predefined gestures and actions, enabling them to observe the patient’s condition. The system also allows numerical simulations of organ models by adjusting physical and geometric parameters, predicting the progression of diseases, and providing assistance and decision support during surgical procedures.

• City Simulation: This system combines city environment simulation with virtual glasses to provide an immersive and interactive urban experience for urban planning, disaster management, and smart city applications. Various crisis scenarios can be simulated, such as typhoons, fires, and floods, within the virtual environment so that people can better understand and respond to different emergency situations. This technology provides a safe and controllable training and evaluation platform for emergency response and urban planning.

Through this prestigious Hi-Tech Fair, the joint team showcased the tremendous potential of digital twin technology to companies and experts from various countries. The innovation and development of this technology are expected to have a profound impact on areas such as surgical assistance and decision-making in the medical field, as well as urban planning and emergency management in smart cities.

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