Rapid Prototyping Platform for Simulations
Unlock the power of digital twins, blockchain, smart contracts and Generative AI as part of the digital assembly line
Are you prepared to unlock the potential of blockchain and Generative AI (GenAI) in the dynamic landscape of the digital assembly line.? Look no further than Weconomics Technologies! Our groundbreaking Rapid Prototyping Platform for Simulations (RAPS/Smartys) immerses you in diverse business scenarios and empowers you to harness transformative technologies. With RAPS, you gain complete control over your datasets, customize your parameters, and execute real-time business processes using advanced AI agents—all within an engaging, interactive environment. RAPS isn’t just a tool; it’s a revolutionary platform that sets a new standard in education and business development. It’s your go-to solution for crafting powerful prototypes for AI, leveraging sensitive local datasets to create robust and compelling business cases. Don’t miss the opportunity to transform your business processes today!
Weconomics Technologies specializes in developing prototypes and simulations to facilitate the adoption of data-driven organizing through various technologies, including datafication, digital twins, tokenization, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, smart contracts, data logistics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Collectively, these technologies form what is known as the digital assembly line.
An important requirement for effectively utilizing the combination of IoT, blockchain and AI is not just the technology itself, but also a shift in mindset.
This involves moving away from dominant logic and embracing system leadership while adopting a new perspective on organizing work and managing data. Since the concepts of data management and innovative work organization can seem abstract and distant for many people, prototyping serves as a useful tool. To support this, Weconomics has developed the ‘Rapid Prototyping Platform for Simulations’ (RAPS). This platform is primarily intended for professionals such as researchers, designers, developers, and advisors, but it is also useful for teachers and students.
Introduction
Prototyping and simulations are crucial for adopting new organizational models and data technologies. For many, concepts such as data-driven organizing, and the digital assembly line remain abstract. This is why Weconomics Technologies invests significantly in fostering data wisdom: understanding what data is and how to organize the supply and demand of data with minimal friction in value chains. RAPS plays a vital role in this initiative, benefiting not only the business community but also government entities and educational and research institutions. By simulating a use case and utilizing a real digital assembly line, participants can see firsthand how to combat data waste, reduce costs and lead times, improve quality, ensure better privacy and security and use productivity enhancing AI. Additionally, they will learn how to decrease complexity and bureaucracy while reducing dependency on big technology and platform companies.
The beginning of
At the beginning of 2020, we were awarded two EU Horizon grants to develop a blockchain simulation game. Out of 125 projects, we were selected because we stood out as the only initiative that didn’t propose yet another use case for a so-called disruptive technology. Instead, we focused on a simulation game aimed at promoting education and awareness. Our core message was to accelerate the adoption of a blockchain-based digital assembly line. Since then, we have expanded the initial simulation into a platform that simulates processes across various sectors. This evolution led to the creation of RAPS, which includes more roles, variables, parameters, and workflow possibilities.
Prototyping and simulations are crucial components of the organizational designs and transformation programs that Weconomics Technologies develops for its clients. Rather than being a traditional company, Weconomics operates as a decentralized network of enterprising professionals. Guided by our motto, “not big tech or deep tech, but beyond tech,” Weconomics Technologies aims to expedite the advancement of ideas, projects, talents, development programs, and startups.
What is Prototyping?
For many people, the use of data technologies such as digital twins, blockchain, smart contracts, and AI can feel abstract and distant from everyday applications. Prototyping is a valuable tool for understanding the transition to a new world of work. Specifically, a prototype for GenAI, which functions as part of a digital assembly line, is essential for envisioning future interactions and value exchanges. By creating a prototype of a digital assembly line, we can test various technologies, components, rules, and conditions before implementing them in practice.
Rapid prototyping encompasses a range of techniques that enable the quick design and development of prototypes. A good prototyping platform should allow users to simulate detailed use cases involving multiple variables, actors, and scenarios, all with minimal IT knowledge. RAPS integrates various components, including Oracle technology, Self-Sovereign Identity, IoT, blockchain, digital twin, tokenization, smart contracts, rich data, data logistics, Zero-Knowledge Proof, and AI. Collectively, these elements form what is known as the digital assembly line.
First Use Case: Transport Simulation
RAPS is powerful in its simplicity. This prototyping and simulation platform was designed and built using Ethereum, initially focusing on a logistics use case for temperature-controlled transport. The simulation leverages data from IoT sensors within smart contracts. Participants engage in a role-playing scenario to organize transport, registering orders and transport conditions across multiple smart contracts. Sensors monitor the temperature throughout the simulated transport, and depending on whether the transport conditions are met, the smart contract automatically distributes tokens to the various parties, ensuring a fully automated financial settlement.
The simulation involved three key actors: the supplier, the customer, and the transporter, with temperature as the defining variable. The transporter is compensated with a predetermined number of tokens based on the agreed transport temperature conditions. This initial setup limited flexibility, as adding new actors or changing variables was not possible, making it challenging to simulate other use cases efficiently. However, with RAPS as an extension of the first simulation, this flexibility is now achievable. This advancement enhances the practical feasibility and applicability of digital twins, blockchain, and GenAI as integral parts of the digital assembly line, making their use more transparent and credible.
Purpose of RAPS
A key function of a prototype is to establish credibility. It is essential to demonstrate that the development is both promising and worthy of belief. Insight and transparency about advancements, such as Gen AI, are critical to this process. The primary purpose of RAPS is to showcase how new technologies can benefit organizations and society as a whole. RAPS is a vital part of Weconomics Technologies’ development journey, enabling organizations, professionals, and educators to undertake pilot projects in an accessible way. This platform allows users to demonstrate, test, and evaluate the operation of the digital assembly line in an experiential lab environment. RAPS is user-friendly and does not require any programming knowledge. Users can simulate various use cases, which also allows for the calculation of cost and time savings and develop business cases. It is important to note that the current intention is not for organizations to implement a practical use case (commonly referred to as a business case) using RAPS. Instead, the goal is to illustrate that the concept of the digital assembly line is functional and beneficial and that an Idealized Design is possible. RAPS assists in developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). In conjunction with other Weconomics Technologies tools, users can also create a Minimum Viable Ecosystem (MVE).
Different Actors
A digital assembly line functions within a data-driven ecosystem rather than within a single organization. Various actors play distinct roles in interactions and transactions. Here are examples of actors across different domains and processes:
- Supply Chain Management: Supplier, client, carrier
- Verifiable Claims: Issuer, holder, verifier
- Building Management: Owner, landlord, tenant, cleaning services, maintenance staff
- Education: Organizer, participant, trainer, verifier
- Recruitment: Employer or client, intermediary, employee or contractor
Different Variables
Using RAPS, the current situation can be compared to an ideal scenario (a digital assembly line with minimal friction) in terms of various variables. Some examples of these variables include weight, temperature, delivery time, humidity, carbon emissions, energy consumption, loading time, unloading time, lead time, damage, order completeness, fall detection, cross-dock time, light exposure, age, previous education, safety certificates, and nationality.
Different Use Cases for RAPS
Several distinct use cases have been developed within RAPS. Here are some examples:
Join The Loop
Industrial supply chains utilize thousands of plastic containers (such as barrels, jerrycans, and buckets) daily to package and transport liquids, powders, or chemicals. Often, these containers are discarded after a single use, even though they remain perfectly usable. This practice leads to significant waste, high processing costs, and potential legal risks, particularly in light of new European legislation emphasizing reuse, traceability, and digital reporting throughout the supply chain. Join The Loop was established as a practice-oriented innovation project aimed at designing and validating a shared, secure, and accessible accounting system that facilitates the safe, legally compliant, and sustainable reuse of industrial packaging. The system leverages digital twins, IoT, smart contracts, blockchain, AI, and the Digital Product Passport (DPP). This creates a digital assembly line where each step in the physical process—from filling to inspection to reuse—is digitally recorded, verified, and managed as if a notary were overseeing each relevant step.
Clean Meuse Water Chain
The Clean Meuse Water Chain is a collaborative initiative involving regional water authority, drinking water companies, Rijkswaterstaat (the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management), and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. The goal is to enhance the water quality of the River Meuse amidst increasing pollution challenges. A key focus is capturing and improving the accessibility of measurement data throughout the chain while utilizing AI for data processing. A shared, secure digital infrastructure is essential for fostering collaboration and maintaining high water quality. Participants in the Clean Meuse Water Chain have a vested interest in ensuring the reliability and quality of water in the Meuse River basin, which is currently under pressure. For effective future management, access to data regarding all actors and activities that can impact water quality is crucial. A prototype of a new data infrastructure has been developed for this purpose. Measurement results will no longer be stored solely locally; instead, a shared accounting system will be implemented based on a data-driven organizing principle that identifies facts using reliable sensors and analytical methods, leading to consensus. This data will be secured so that consensus-based facts cannot be unilaterally or retroactively altered. Targeted access to this shared and secure accounting system will be provided. Furthermore, AI can enhance reliable data to support better decision-making.
Conditioned transport
This case involves three parties: the supplier, transporter, and customer. During the transport of syrup waffles, temperature measurements are taken using calibrated and validated sensors. These measurements are recorded on a blockchain, and a smart contract ensures automatic payment to the transporter. If the temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius, the transporter will not receive full payment because the product can no longer be sold.
Blokko
Blokko simulates the process of ordering products using LEGO Serious Gaming. Participants must place orders and arrange transportation, simulating the entire supply chain from raw material to end product. They are tasked with selling products, creating production schedules, and coordinating logistics. Blokko illustrates the complex dynamics of supply chains, where various roles—such as purchasing, finance, production, and distribution—collaborate.
Certificates on a blockchain
Upon completing the Weconomics Certified Program, a student’s certificate is hashed and stored on a blockchain. This ensures that both the participant and the organization can reliably prove that the individual has completed the training and received a certificate, theoretical diploma, or diploma.
Verifiable claims
To enroll in a specific course, students must be for example at least 18 years old, residents of the EU, and possess a diploma in higher vocational education. Blockchain technology, specifically Zero Knowledge Proof, can verify that an individual meets these criteria without disclosing sensitive information such as date of birth, education, or nationality.
Transport Performance
Validated and calibrated cameras can monitor when a truck departs from loading dock A and arrives at loading dock B. If the transport time deviates by more than twenty percent from the agreed time, the transporter will receive reduced payment as dictated by a smart contract.
Warehouse Performance
The total weight of a pallet can be measured using a scale and compared with the packing list, which in turn can be matched with the original order. A more advanced approach involves the use of NFC (Near Field Communication) chips in products. This contactless communication technology operates within a range of about 10 centimeters. For instance, it can verify whether the products on a pallet or in a box correspond to the packing list. Based on the measured data and a smart contract, decisions can be made about whether to accept products from a pallet into the warehouse.
Safe2Office
CO2 sensors can be used to determine the maximum number of visitors allowed in a meeting room. Additionally, analyzing dust particle levels with a dust filter can provide average measurements for a specific room. This data allows cleaning services to make more efficient and cost-effective proposals and plans for cleaning.
Different Components
RAPS utilizes a variety of technical components. Some examples include: Hardwario (sensors), Raspberry Pi (a single-board computer), QR display and scanner technology, NFC tags and scanners, MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport, a protocol for transmitting sensor data to a blockchain), API (Application Programming Interface), DApps (Decentralized Applications), storage platforms (IPFS, InterPlanetary File System, SWARM), blockchain platforms (Ethereum Goerli, Polygon, Parity/Substrate/Polkadot), Web3, and storage connectors (Infura, Moralis, and personal nodes).
Experience Lab for Data-Driven Organizing
Weconomics Technologies has established an experience lab focused on data-driven organizing and simulations. In this lab, components of the digital assembly line can be simulated, with RAPS serving as the foundation. The solution is a user-friendly IT platform designed for students, teachers, and professionals, allowing them to design and build prototypes without needing specialized IT knowledge. The platform serves a dual purpose: first, it aims to educate users about the digital assembly line and how to apply it; second, it targets professionals in organizational settings who can use this platform to redesign their processes with new technologies and build pilot projects in an accessible and cost-effective manner. The experience lab allows for test phases and validation to occur before implementing solutions in real-world scenarios.
What does the platform look like in concrete terms?
RAPS offers a scalable solution for prototyping and experimentation. The platform includes several ready-made simulations for various domains and processes, enabling users to quickly gain practical experience with oracles, sensors, blockchains, tokens, smart contracts, and AI. Users without software development experience can easily adjust these simulations to fit their research or practical applications. Additionally, the source code for the components that make up the platform, as well as the underlying smart contracts, is available to all users. This access allows users to efficiently compile their use cases and develop new applications and work processes that may not yet be included as standard features of the platform.
What can a user expect from RAPS?
RAPS offers both several ready-made simulations and an option to compile non-existent use cases:
- standard: ready-made simulation environment for a digital assembly line;
- variations: easily create a variation of the standard simulations by choosing other parameters, roles, steps, tokens, and sensors (no programming knowledge is required for this);
- customization: with some programming knowledge, other blockchains, smart contracts, and sensors can also be linked to the demo.
What are the ultimate costs of using RAPS?
RAPS will consist of a standard part and a configurable part:
- The ready-made demos are free for the test group.
- The final (license) fee for RAPS will be determined after testing and validation but will be offered to educational institutions at a reduced rate.
- For running own variations, own tokens, and advanced solutions, DApps are generated that the user must run on a web server. For this, the user can easily set up a server. After consultation, sensors can be ordered or used in the experience lab. A quotation is first made for customization.
More information? Please contact us.
tags: rpp, raps
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