What’s coming
Vardøger is the digital twin platform for intelligent mechatronics. It is a native desktop application, written in Rust, for building, simulating and operating intelligent digital twins of machines. It combines real-time multibody mechanics, hydraulics and electric drives, a 3D view with the machines’ CAD, and open links to the outside world, from game controllers and robotics middleware to industrial fieldbuses. An intelligent twin does more than mirror its machine. It predicts, advises and acts one step ahead, and shows the operator what is coming.
Vardøger is in development, and a first version is on its way. Stay tuned.
What is a vardøger?
In Norwegian folklore, the vardøger is a heralding spirit, a benevolent phantom double that goes ahead of you. People at home hear your footsteps on the stairs, the door creak or your cough, and more rarely they see you. Shortly afterwards you arrive. It is déjà vu in reverse. The experience comes first, and the person follows.
The vardøger is also seen as a kind of guardian angel, sometimes identified with the protective spirit called fylgje (literally “follower”). Tales of it are told all over Norway, and some still believe in it today. The word comes from Old Norse varðhygi, possibly from vǫrðr, “guardian, watchman”, and hugr, “mind”. A watchful mind that walks ahead.
Vardøger does the same for a machine. Each operation is planned and simulated in its digital twin first, and the physical system follows. And just as the vardøger never replaces the person, but only goes ahead, the twin does not replace the operator. It shows what is coming, so the human stays in the loop even as more of the work becomes autonomous. Like a guardian spirit, the twin will also keep watch while the machine works. It compares what the machine does with what it should do, warns early of wear and faults, and adapts control and maintenance to the machine’s health. In time, the twin will come even earlier, designed together with the machine before anything is built.
Interested?
Vardøger is looking for pilot users and industrial partners. If you build or operate machines and want a twin that goes ahead of them, get in touch.