Model Z: Revolutionizing IoT Integration with Advanced Digital Twin Technology

Model Z introduces a robust Internet of Thing (IoT) solution that leverages the ESP8266 microcontroller to control a relay switch via a Firebase Realtime Database, enabling real-time and remote automation. Traditional control systems often lack reliable remote management, predictive cost estimation, and digital twin (DT) integration, which limits their effectiveness in modern interconnected environments. To address these gaps, the proposed system not only supports seamless manual and remote device control but also introduces three key contributions: (i) transformer-based regression for accurate cost prediction, (ii) integration of IoT with a DT for real-time energy management, and (iii) a reproducible pipeline with dataset and code release to ensure transparency and replicability. In this setup, the NodeMCU ESP8266 continuously monitors both the physical switch and the Firebase database to control the relay, enabling users to toggle connected appliances (e.g., a bulb) on or off while ensuring real-time synchronization of operational states. If the switch is pressed, the ESP8266 updates Firebase to reflect the change, ensuring accurate mirroring across both local and cloud platforms. By connecting to Wireless-Fidelity and Firebase, the ESP8266 provides stable updates with automatic reconnection routines to handle network interruptions.