Two years before the fire that Notre Dame Cathedral suffered, in April 2019, an exact digital replica was made, where every detail of the temple was recreated point by point. That reproduction is being vital for the reconstruction which has been carried out since then and whose objective is that the result is practically identical to the model before the fire.
Now, a Spanish company, Plain Concepts, has carried out the same action with the Cathedral of León, with almost perfect precision. To carry out, they have incorporated a laser camera on the media dog Spot of Boston Dynamics, who has gone through every part of the church measuring and capturing every detail to later recreate it in a digital version. To get an idea, the precision is such that the difference between the two models is around three millimeters.
The possibilities of a digital twin
The possibilities of using a digital twin are enormous, not only in the case of reconstruction, as in the case of Notre Dame, but also to carry out other actions such as the reorganization of the temple or the simulation of some improvement work. It also makes it possible to bring works of art closer to the educational world that may not be available to everyone, improving their study.
But it is not only useful for the dissemination of historical heritage, it can also be applied in other sectors, such as businesses. For example, a workshop that wants to carry out the reorganization of its space, with heavy machinery that you may want to move from one place to another. Using the digital twin you can recreate your workspace and try out different layouts before coming up with the final one, avoiding unnecessary effort.
It is not the first time that Plain Concepts uses Spot to carry out its projects. The choice of the Boston Dynamics dog is due to a series of characteristics such as its resistance to extreme situations of water, dust and temperatures of up to 113 degrees or its ability to move on all types of terrain, even avoiding obstacles. In this way, Spot was able to get into each space of the León Cathedral to capture as many images as possible and carry out the recreation of the digital twin with total accuracy.