Check out the Gallery Exhibits in the AU Expo

At Autodesk, we make tools to help people with design challenges every day. We help our customers design and make anything, from skyscrapers and smart cars to bridges and blockbusters. We automate how things are designed in the digital world and made in the physical world. Through human innovation and automation, we can shape the world around us. Better things, better work, a better world. Together, we can make anything.

We serve 3 industries:

• Product Design and Manufacturing (PD&M)
• Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC)
• Media and Entertainment (M&E)

It's Autodesk University (AU) time. The AU Expo will feature exhibits from PD&M and AEC and how those two industries are converging.

 

 

Product Design and Manufacturing

• IndyCar - IndyCar Design Simulation

  • The shapes of Indy racecar bodies must be tuned for street courses or superspeedways to achieve speeds of up to 240 mph.
  • Autodesk CFD software allows engineers to simulate/evaluate a racecar's performance by illustrating the complex nature of air passing over and around the car.

• Hand Made Prosthetics - Prosthetics for Active People

  • A former firefighter, Braden Leonard, lost his hand in a bike accident and struggled with prosthetic limbs when pursuing extreme sports.
  • Leonard is currently a resident at our BUILD Space in Boston where he works with emerging tech on improved: prosthetic wrist rotation under load, strength, and transmission from his arm to the device.

• Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport - Engineering for Formula 1

  • Formula 1 racing requires exacting engineering to succeed in races often decided by hundredths of a second, and as such, assemblies like a rear outboard suspension consist of over 100 parts.
  • The Mercedes-Petronas team collaborated with Autodesk to use generative design to design lightweight components that could meet high-performance requirements and be manufactured using existing subtractive manufacturing equipment.

• NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) - Space Exploration Lander

  • Putting a lander on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn (to verify the ingredients for life) requires parts that withstand temperatures far below zero and radiation levels greater than Earth, but also low weight to reduce the amount of rocket fuel needed to reach orbit.
  • Collaborating with Autodesk, NASA JPL used generative design for a mass reduction of 35% of the main structural lander component that could be made using various fabrication methods such as casting, subtractive, and additive manufacturing.

• Datron Dynamics, Diversified Machine Systems, Farsoon Technologies, Fictiv, FormLabs, Hass Automation, Ultimaker - The Factory

  • Groups of  8 participants can have a factory floor experience while designing and assembling an air quality sensor that doubles as a desktop lamp.
  • Fusion 360 and EAGLE software provide an end-to-end design-and-make solution.

• BMW Motorcycle - New Approaches to Motorcycle Design

  • For their latest research project, BMW wanted to take advantage of their latest in-house additive manufacturing competence to create a bionic-like part for a new motorcycle.
  • With support from Autodesk, BMW set constraints for stiffness and shape, where a rider would sit, and connections to the rest of the motorcycle, and used generative design for the frame and swingarm.

• KISKA - The New Silverpilen Motorcycle

  • KASKA reimagines classic motorcycles and brought back the iconic 1955 Steve McQueen Silverpilen (Silver Arrow) motorcycle.
  • KISKA designers use Alias to translate 2D sketches into 3D designs, milling software to form clay models, and scanning/VR to rebuild surfaces and volumes to exacting specifications before final milling.

• GM (General Motors) - Next Generation Vehicle Lightweighting

  • Since 2016, GM has launched 14 new vehicle models with a total mass reduction of more than 5,000 pounds — about 350 pounds per vehicle.
  • GM and Autodesk engineers used generative design to produce 150 design options, an organic structure no human could have imagined that was 40% lighter and 20% stronger, and consolidated 8 different components into one 3D-printed part.

Convergence of Manufacturing and Construction

• Dura Vermeer - Custom Construction Components on Demand

  • Dura Vermeer applies additive and hybrid manufacturing processes to the construction process.
  • Dura Vermeer used generative design to create custom construction components that reduced 10 separate parts into one.

• NASA - Automated Construction on the Moon

  • Because building habitable structures on other planets is a goal of NASA's, but shipping materials aboard a rocket isn't practical nor cost-effective, NASA is exploring Autodesk additive manufacturing technology to 3D print habitats on other planets by combining plastic waste with native Lunar or Martian regolith (dirt or rock).
  • Working with NASA, the project is being led by Autodesk's Advanced Consulting group using the BUILD Space's large robotic 3D printing cell.

• StrucSoft Solutions, Howick Ltd., KHS&S, Virginia Tech Center for Design Research - Automated Construction Site

  • StrucSoft and Howick have partnered to create a process where clinics, schools, and houses can be built in half the time with less waste.
  • StrucSoft is engaged at the Autodesk BUILD Space in Boston where Autodesk invites startups, academia, and industry experts to explore ways to advance the building industry.

Architecture, Engineering, and Construction

• Norconsult, Bane NOR - Norway's Ulriken Tunnel

  • Norway's train tunnel that connects Oslo and Bergen is the most heavily traveled single-track tunnel in Northern Europe.
  • Norconsult created BIM models using AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and Revit, animated them with 3ds Max, and used an interactive VR experience to visualize project plans, mitigate errors, and cut years off standard approval times.

• Block Research Group of ETH Zurich - A Materially Efficient Concrete Flooring System

  • NEST (Next Evolution Sustainable building Technologies) is creating High performance/Low energy (HiLo) building units to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Revit and BIM 360 are used in the design and construction of HiLo units that reduce the amount of concrete required by up to 70% depending on the floor plan.

• VINCI Facilities - BIM, VR, and AR for Smart Buildings

  • Working with Autodesk's Consulting team, VINCI Facilities was able to pull together all of a building's data and various systems — allowing operators to more easily monitor conditions and respond to problems.
  • VINCI Facilities used the Autodesk Forge platform to integrate 3D models, sensor data, Internet of Things systems, and asset management software into a cloud-connected mobile viewer coupled with an immersive AR/VR experience.

• China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp. - Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Financial Center

  • Standing 530 meters tall with 103 stories, the Tianjin Chow Fook Tower is an example of using BIM to improve collaboration for better outcomes.
  • BIM allowed them to cut 30 days from the building schedule, reduce materials needed for delivery to save 60 days of construction work, and robots/UAVs improved the speed of measurement and reduced errors during installation.

• BAM Ireland - Ireland's New Children's Hospital

  • Ireland's new children's hospital brings together three existing children's hospitals, so children with complicated and serious illnesses can receive all their treatment in one location.
  • Ireland's new children's hospital will be Ireland's first public digital hospital — recording, tracking, and monitoring patient data digitally.

• Hassell, Cox Architecture, HKS - Perth's Optus Stadium

  • The Optus Stadium in Perth, the first LED-lit multi-purpose stadium, will seat 60,000 in football mode, 65,000 in rectangular mode, and 70,000 in concert mode.
  • Generative and parametric design tools automated BIM modeling that: enabled modular construction, simplified multidisciplinary model coordination/clash detection, and shaved weeks off the schedule for a facade that looks simple but is quite complex.

• City of Paris - Eiffel Tower Grand Site

  • Although more than 30 million people visit and 7 million climb the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the surrounding area is being redeveloped to improve its grandeur.
  • The City of Paris partnered with Autodesk to use scan-to-BIM to create a 3D model of the site, complete with buildings, roads, infrastructure, pedestrian crossings, etc. to help a jury panel visualize, analyze, and evaluate proposals for projects that will begin in 2021 and be completed in time for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

• Project Frog - Making Mass Customization Easier

  • Prefabrication can trim construction time and accelerate permitting, but design teams often find it difficult to weave in prefabricated components, often needing to comb through complicated manuals.
  • Using Autodesk Forge, Project Frog allows designs to be customized using a library of prefabricated components that behave according to built-in rules so architects can design without consulting manuals, and proper information flows to manufacturers for fabrication and installation.

Although two of the exhibits are out of this world, the others showcase what customers are doing with their Autodesk subscriptions today. If you're attending AU, be sure to check out the AU Expo.

Exhibitionism is alive in the lab.