Dispersed Team Nabs $1 Million Prize in DARPA FANG Challenge
It’s no surprise that the winner of the $1 million prize in DARPA’s Fast Adaptable Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG) mobility/drivetrain challenge was a three-person team with members dispersed in Ohio, Texas, and California.
The challenge, the first of which kicked off in January, aims to spark innovation around the design of the vehicle, not only from inside traditional defense industry circles, but also from the outside world. Equally important to the competition, however, was putting a new genre of development tools to the test in the hopes of significantly compressing the design-to-production cycle of complex defense systems, according to Army Lt. Col. Nathan Wiedenman, program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Continue reading
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Siemens PLM Software Launches Free Job Training for Veterans
Siemens PLM Software is offering CAD, CAM, and CAE training — courses that usually cost as much as $17,000 — to recently returning veterans for free.
In an announcement today, the company outlines the program: “Ten, multi-day courses are offered, including comprehensive training on NX software, Siemens PLM Software’s leading integrated solution for CAD/CAM/CAE, and Teamcenter software, the world’s most widely used digital lifecycle management solution. The training will help enhance veterans’ qualifications for skilled positions in a wide variety of manufacturing industries around the world, including automotive, aerospace, energy, high-tech electronics, and machinery.” Continue reading
Is Our CAD Use All Wrong?
Are CAD jockeys just that—folks who are adeptly skilled at working the CAD tools to do surface modeling and other complex tasks—or are they engineering wizards simply employing a tool to get the job done?
The question of whether the “D” in CAD is more about enabling good drafting or good design is the subject of a heated debate in the Desktop Engineering LinkedIn Group. Cydesign’s Derek Cheng posited the idea that drafting is not the same as design. He says companies can run into trouble if they leverage CAD too early in the cycle to create beautifully meshed and rendered 3D models prior to do the mathematical work that is foundational to good design.
Dassault Systemes Snatches Up FE-Design, Gets into the Optimization Craze
FE-DESIGN GmbH, a German company with a product line named after a famous Italian opera, is going to become part of Dassault Systemes (DS), a French 3D software giant.
Today, in a transaction of undisclosed amount, DS acquired the Germany software maker known for its optimization packages: TOSCA Fluid and TOSCA Structure. DS already has a robust collection of simulation products, marketed under the SIMULIA brand. By acquiring FE-DESIGN, DS is boosting its current simulation offerings with the optimization technology in FE-DESIGN’s TOSCA products. Continue reading
SmartGeometry 2013: Uncertainty Brings Out the Best in Generative Design
SmartGeometry Conference (SG), the annual gathering organized by SmartGeometry Group, is now in its 12th year, with a solid history to prove its international appeal. But even long-time SG alumni are often at a loss for words when pressed to describe the event.
“What is SmartGeometry? I don’t actually have a straight answer to that. It’s a question that we ask ourselves many times,” said Xavier de Kestelier, one of the SG directors, during his opening speech this year (SG2013, The Bartlett: UCL, London, April 15-20). It’s not a scholarly event where professors get up and read papers, hiding behind tall lecterns and impenetrable academic terms. It’s not an industry event where people trade war stories and network over free-flowing wine and beer. “SG is one of the events where we get practice and academia to come to the same event and interact,” said Kestelier. “I never talk about SG conference; I always talk about SG workshop/conference, because that workshop is very important, probably the most important thing.” Continue reading
