This course will present case studies of resident projects that were fabricated at the Autodesk Technology Centers. These case studies will focus on the robotic workflows for AEC, describing both the robotic software (examples include Autodesk Maya, Machina, ABB RobotStudio, PowerMill) and the challenges overcome from troubleshooting physical constraints. Attendees will gain knowledge in various approaches to robotic fabrication and how this informs the move to automate fabrication at the construction site. Case studies examples: Perkins and Will’s Mass timber pavilion fabrication utilizing workflow of suction grippers, drills, saws and nail guns; Mad Workshop’s Arroyo Bridge- a 75 ft pedestrian bridge utilizing a robot to position 600 steel members in unique places for a manual welding process; AI SpaceFactory’s MARSHA -a 15 ft structure made from biopolymer basalt composite utilizing additive workflow; and Apis Cor’s 3-D printed 2-story, 12,000 sq. ft concrete building.

Discover the inspiring collaboration of Team Bath Heart and Autodesk at the Autodesk Technology Centre in Birmingham, merging creativity with advanced technology to create a revolutionary artificial heart. Team Bath Heart is a multidisciplinary engineering team from the University of Bath in England. Two-time champions of the international Heart Hackathon, the team is pioneering innovations in artificial-heart design combining advanced simulation, manufacturing, and biomedical insight to push the boundaries of medical engineering. The team uses the Autodesk Fusion collaborative features, CAM profiling, and generative design tools to accelerate the design, testing, and prototyping of their next-generation artificial heart.

AI has transformed design and simulation, yet its role in real-world making where materials, tolerances, and human judgment converge remains emergent. Fabrication is variable, unforgiving, and governed by physics that challenge AI tools. This panel will explore the current state of AI in manufacturing and construction, focusing on how agentic systems can augment, not replace, skilled practitioners. Drawing on applied research from the Autodesk Technology Centers, we'll share how we train AI on real fabrication data, develop physics-informed models, and test intelligent, automated manufacturing workflows. Join experts across domains to examine how human-AI collaboration can drive impactful outcomes from factory floors to jobsites.

In this cross-industry collaboration between Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) and the Autodesk Technology Centre in Birmingham, England, we're solving the challenges NWG has maintaining water infrastructure. By employing advanced manufacturing techniques—such as laser scanning, reverse engineering, and hybrid manufacturing—NWG can work with its supply chain to repair broken parts and extend the operating lives of the assets they maintain. NWG is responsible for many assets that were manufactured decades ago, and the original design data is no longer available, causing excessively long lead times for replacement parts. As a result, the downtime for key national infrastructure water systems is prolonged and costly. We will show how this important collaboration between the water and manufacturing industries will reduce the downtime and extend product life, improving NWG's resilience, and ultimately saving money for customers.

Are you ready to explore a new era of Design & Make? With Autodesk Fusion, we're digitally transforming beyond the disjointed, single-purpose applications of the past, creating a more cohesive workflow. Autodesk Fusion is bringing designers and makers closer together through data, driving effortless collaboration. In this insightful panel discussion, we will explore the capabilities of Autodesk Fusion and its impact on the way we work. This vision will be seen through the eyes of firsthand users both within Autodesk and customers. Explore data interoperability between solutions, API extensibilities, as well as advanced design and make workflows. Discover how Autodesk Technology Centers are championing change in the world of manufacturing with cutting edge systems. Understand how customers are leverage API solutions to achieve complex automated workflows. Join us as we discuss how Autodesk Fusion can unify Design and Make.

This industrial case study will cover a recent design-and-make collaboration between Autodesk and Impression Technologies (ITL), an industry-leading, automotive, hot-forming solutions provider. Together we’ll present a comparison of several mold designs across a range of design approaches and manufacturing technologies. We’ll demonstrate how optimizing design for additive manufacturing can be maximized to achieve more-efficient production times and material usage, improved part quality, and reduced part cost and energy consumption. During the project, experts from Autodesk and ITL collaborated via Autodesk CFD software and the Autodesk Fusion 360 platform. We used simulation and several design methodologies, including conformal cooling and the application of lattice structures via the Autodesk Fusion 360 Product Design extension. The project culminated in the tooling production using Autodesk’s Birmingham Technology Centre metal additive manufacturing systems, and testing and validation at ITL’s research facility.

Explore best practices for industrialized construction to ensure fast, efficient, and sustainable workflows. Learn how Beca from Australia and Windover Construction from the United States used building information modeling (BIM) to improve off-site workflows and facilities operations. Case studies will cover academic and affordable housing projects, including the digitalization of asset management at the University of Melbourne and Windover's 153,000-square-foot, modular, mixed-use community in Massachusetts. You'll also explore the application of additive manufacturing in fabricating historic preservation facades at the Autodesk Technology Center in Boston. Gain insights into the convergence of manufacturing and architecture, engineering, and construction workflows, leading to reduced waste and improved quality. Discover how combining off-site construction and digital twins is paving the way toward a zero-waste future. Explore how design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA) workflows can empower prefab design, manufacturing, and installation, maximizing sustainability, schedule, and cost benefits across your portfolio.

The Autodesk Research Residency Program is open to external groups in academia, the startup ecosystem, and industries focused on novel project work. The program provides Autodesk with industry insights and offers resident teams access to a global network of innovators, events, and the Autodesk Technology Centers. Resident teams often work alongside Autodesk researchers and peers, fostering a conducive environment for problem-solving, ideation, and development with rapidly advancing technology like artificial intelligence (AI). As leaders in AI research and a trusted partner to industry, Autodesk Research and the Autodesk Residency Program are natural fits for Design and Make teams developing high-impact industry solutions with AI. This session will provide multiple case studies of the AI work taking place within the Autodesk Research Residency Program. We will feature specific teams using AI, and highlight how their participation in the Residency Program is accelerating their work and use of AI.

At Mortenson Construction we self perform concrete work, as well as other construction activities, which enables our project teams to control a critical component of our construction schedule that we call The Critical Path. Our objective is to improve our virtual design and construction (VDC) integration by increasing the efficiency of our construction system design VDC and integrated work planning (IWP) processes to drive higher value to our concrete planning and execution process. In partnership with Mortenson, CAD Technology Center has developed a plug-in to Revit software that will yield higher efficiency to our issued-for-construction sheet drawings by eliminating waste in our tedious, manual, sheet-generation tasks. The new concrete pour sequence tool will automate the process and reduce the time and effort needed to deliver high-quality drawings to our field crew (which relies on our output to put work in place). We want to spend less time with non-valuable activities and more time integrating with our concrete crews to drive value and revenue to our projects.

Autodesk Fusion 360 software is arguably one of the most feature-rich and affordable CAD tools on the market. But some people still think that there surely must be a catch or a compromise. Well, we’re here to show that Autodesk Fusion 360 is an innovative CAD tool and can easily do what traditional CAD tools can do, plus a whole lot more! Using a real-world example of a complex, component-heavy design for a physically huge 3D printer built simultaneously at the University of Warwick and Autodesk’s Birmingham Technology Centre, we’ll show how Autodesk Fusion 360 handled deeply nested subassemblies of electromechanical components designed with both top-down and bottom-up modeling strategies. We’ll show how Autodesk Fusion 360 effortlessly empowered the project team to streamline the whole of their design and development process, collaborating in real time and taking their designs from concept all the way through verification and documentation onto manufacturing through seamless integration with computer numerical control (CNC) systems.

What are new emerging methods for tackling large and complex challenges such as sustainable design? More specifically, what might happen when we combine technology from one industry and apply it to another? Further, how can designers leverage these experiments in "convergence" to inform the future of design-and-make? Inspired by an Autodesk Technology Center resident, this case study explores the sustainable implications of converging industrial design tasks with "procedural modeling" tools (a Media and Entertainment technology). This talk shares the results of both practical hands-on experiments and conceptual thinking on how procedural modeling tools could influence higher performing design decisions applied to product-design and manufacturing. Experience the convergence of industries as the Technology Centers explore what it means to continuously reshape and adapt objects to meet functional and performance requirements.

Fusion 360 software now offers a simple workflow for programming industrial robot arms. Anyone familiar with post-processing machine code from Fusion 360 can now create robot code in the same way. During this lab, users will use the manufacturing space from Fusion 360 to generate robot native code that can drive industrial robot arms. First, we will show a generic robot workflow within Fusion 360 that will post with the ABB post processor. Then, we will cover exporting code into a virtual robot simulator, ABB RobotStudio, for validation. We’ll then pivot to recordings at Autodesk Technology Centers, explaining calibration of various coordinate systems localizing the robot arm and robot operation for milling applications. We’ll introduce other applications that participants can use with this workflow, such as welding and additive. Finally, we will share various case studies from Autodesk Technology Center residents and customers utilizing Fusion 360 for industrial robots.

During this session, we’ll highlight the research collaboration formed between Skanska USA and Autodesk to identify and develop construction use cases for Spot, the robotic dog platform by Boston Dynamics. After conducting testing at the Autodesk Technology Center and Skanska jobsites in Boston, we’ve evaluated Spot's ability to execute repeatable, autonomous missions that document and analyze jobsite housekeeping and cleanliness, while benchmarking Spot versus human operators.

Come join us for a civil industry-focused CAD-manager discussion panel with some of the industry's most experienced CAD managers. Learn from managers from both small and large firms as we cover a full range of issues, including software implementation and customization, training and support, and challenges in bridging the gap between end users, management, and software. There will be a series of questions submitted to the panel before class, and we'll also take some questions from the audience. The mediator will be Brian Levendowski, support manager, CAD Technology Center.

Digital Prototypings, powered by real-time data, AI, and IoT, are poised to revolutionize product design and manufacturing workflows within the design-make-use lifecycle. By enabling data-driven, predictive processes, Digital Prototypings transform how products are conceived, iterated, and validated. What if IoT sensor data embedded in a product can detect stresses during its operation, which can be derived to automatically redesign a stronger and more efficient iteration? What if IoT sensor data embedded in a 3D printer can detect defects on a layer-by-layer basis to make real-time, in-situ adjustments to prevent manufacturing failures and scrap? Questions like these are not only being asked but explored and tested at Autodesk Research. Through a performance-aided design approach, we are harnessing sensor data to drive real-time optimizations, using a flying vehicle as a cutting-edge testbed to redefine the future of design and manufacturing.

Discover what makes Fusion 360 software the fastest rapid-prototyping CAD/CAM software available. Users will learn how to use parametric design history, user-defined parameters, and the tools in the Manufacturing Workspace to create rapid-prototyping templates to bring models from CAD models to machines in minutes. When the tedious work of CAM setups, tool libraries, feeds and speeds, and fixturing / work holding can be baselined in a standard template, designers and operators can spend more time focusing on product development and part optimization. With a few simple rules, tips, and tricks coming straight from the Autodesk Technology Center Workshops, you can create standardized CAD/CAM templates to streamline design to make workflows at any level.