Global Engineering Design Tools

Air pollution is a global health issue, and affects more than 90% of the world’s population. Our team at University of Colorado Boulder, with support from the Autodesk Foundation, has developed air-quality feedback systems and other environmental sensors to help improve public health around the world. We use engineering technology to address global health problems. In partnership with a team from Autodesk Pier 9, a health-based air-quality feedback system (the desktop lamp featured at Autodesk University’s Factory exhibit) was developed using distance design techniques. Fusion 360 software’s CAD, CAM, and Render workspaces were used to collaboratively design the product with inputs from team members in multiple cities, and the electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) integration with EAGLE software was used to design the open-source circuit board. This class will introduce the field of global engineering, with specific examples of how we use CAD, ECAD, and CAM to rapidly prototype solutions to global health problems, from Rwanda to San Francisco.