A new seat belt bracket in a General Motors car may not seem like a big deal. But this is no ordinary bracket. Created using generative design, it’s additively manufactured and replaces 8 separate parts sourced from multiple vendors. It’s also 40% lighter and 20% stronger than the bracket solution currently used in GM cars. And this bracket is just the beginning of a wider effort that GM announced in May, using Autodesk generative design software to go beyond weight reduction to total design optimization. The idea is to eventually create not just seat belt brackets, but thousands of car p... READ MORE >

Buildings don’t build themselves. They require the active participation of dozens of teams and hundreds, if not thousands of individuals. And if you work in the fabrication space—whether that’s steel and concrete or MEP—you know that success depends on doing your part and integrating as seamlessly as possible with the work of everyone else. BIM can help make that process faster, easier, and more efficient, saving you time and money. Plus, it makes things easier for your clients, so you’re the one they want to work with again. Because at the end of the day, a big part of successful fabrica... READ MORE >

AU provides ample opportunity to dive deep into industry topics and trends, connect to your peers, and hear from today’s leadership. This year, we’ve integrated the Transportation Summit for the civil engineering community into the broader AU experience. One way we’re doing that? With a series of informative lunch & learns featuring presentations by industry experts and Autodesk product teams. These luncheons will showcase real customer projects and plans while focusing on what’s next for the industry. Come get a glimpse of what’s new and what’s ahead for the tools of your trade and break ... READ MORE >

AU is a global learning community focused on helping every member advance in their careers while also advancing the industries we work in. Last week, we got on Tokyo time to explore the future of making at AU Japan. Professionals from the worlds of design, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and media gathered at the Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba to share knowledge, get hands-on with new technologies, and learn how to adapt to the ongoing transformations in industry practice and process. Autodesk Senior Vice President Steve Blum opened the conference with a discussion of how the construction a... READ MORE >

Robots put things together every day. What’s different about Autodesk’s BrickBot is that it’s not given instructions about how to put something together. It decides for itself what piece to pick and where to put it. In other words, the robot is told what to build, but not how to build it. It’s something that humans do every day—we solve problems. Until now, robots have been remarkably bad at it. But with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it’s beginning to be possible. The BrickBot is building with Legos for now, which has major implications for the future of both constr... READ MORE >