Smallholder farmers face climate volatility, energy constraints, and post-harvest loss. Yet many products are not designed for their realities. This session will show how Kheyti and S4S Technologies apply Autodesk tools including Revit, Robot Structural Analysis, Autodesk Fusion, and Inventor with Autodesk CFD to design greenhouse systems, agrivoltaics, and food processing technologies that improve yield and income reliability, reduce energy and material use, and minimize crop loss. You'll gain practical approaches for embedding human-centered design into engineering workflows, building internal technical capability through pro bono and E4C support, and applying Autodesk-enabled methods to drive resilience, sustainability, and equitable impact at scale.

We’re living on this planet as though we have another one waiting in the wings. The world is already 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than it was during its preindustrial years, and current emissions levels suggest that the planet will warm by an estimated 4 to 5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Climate change affects everything—geopolitics, economies, ecosystems, and agriculture. It shapes and defines our cities, our life expectancy, and our very existence. But as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has pointed out, “The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.” With technology spanning architecture, engineering, construction, product design, and manufacturing, our customers touch every aspect of our environment. This affords us in a unique opportunity to influence how things are designed and made in this critical race against time. This session will guide you through the key aspects of sustainable design and how our tools can address them. Together we can create a BETTER WORLD!

The session will provide an overview of the collaboration between Final Aim and Yamaha Motor to co-create a unique EV designed for agriculture. Using generative AI from the conceptual phase, the project exemplifies the integration of AI into industrial design processes to create innovative solutions for specific functional requirements. Generative AI facilitated extensive ideation, producing more than 2,000 design ideas—which led to a distinctive, practical vehicle design with high visibility and load-bearing features. In parallel, the project incorporated blockchain technology to manage and safeguard design data, intellectual property, and design contracts, demonstrating an advanced approach to maintaining data integrity and authenticity in the manufacturing industry. The project highlights the capabilities of generative AI and blockchain in design and manufacturing. It addresses the complexities of design process, data, and intellectual property in the era of AI-driven creation.

In many parts of the world, fragile supply chains, lack of standardization, and limited training in construction best practices are barriers to using locally sourced sustainable engineering materials. MASS Design Group has pushed the boundaries of design and construction in East Africa through the use of such materials, and has created opportunities to strengthen the construction industry to deliver innovative and sustainable projects. This session will present the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture and The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund as case studies. We’ll discuss the rigorous research and testing required to validate the structural use of earth, timber, and lightweight-concrete construction. We’ll also explore how these designs were documented to assist construction workers in implementation, to assist supervisors by highlighting critical structural elements, and to assist designers in an analysis of environmental impact.

Automation and robotics have helped manufacturing, retail, and agriculture industries increase productivity by 1,500% since 1945 (McKinsey 2017). In contrast, however, construction productivity has remained relatively stagnant during the same time period. For the robotics industry, construction presents potential use cases and unique applications that can utilize a variety of evolving technologies, from drones, ground robotics, teleoperation, machine vision, additive manufacturing, and assistive robotics. Automation has been implemented in other industries to solve challenges associated with labor productivity, material waste, quality control, and so on—but why not construction? This panel will bring together representatives from the architecture, engineering, and construction industry with technology and thought leaders from the robotics community to develop a collective understanding of the problems and opportunities, and discuss how to take the next steps.

Construction is the last sector (after agriculture, manufacturing, and mining) that continues to throw thousands of people at a problem, working with chronically low productivity in physically and mentally challenging conditions. The time has come to apply learning from other sectors and vastly increase productivity in both the design and delivery of assets. The shift to digital design is accelerating, thanks to sophisticated, data-driven tools that go beyond BIM (Building Information Modeling). Algorithmic simulation, machine learning, and generative design vastly accelerate the process. Better still, they generate far more possible solutions, which means better outcomes. Meanwhile, new forms of construction are harnessing the benefits of manufacturing. Construction “platforms” combine design, manufacture, and procurement principles holistically to ensure a greater degree of rationalization and integration. Manufactured components can be used across sectors creating high, constant demand and economies of scale.

This class will explore the computer-aided thinking and design process that the Nairobi-based Engineering Team from a leading social enterprise uses to create new, income-generating products for the poorest segment of Africa’s population: small-scale farmers. Developing irrigation products that are affordable and uniquely tailored to the complex needs of small-scale farmers in Africa is a design challenge with the potential to improve the lives of millions. Examples from the work of KickStart International will illuminate how Inventor software, Simulations Mechanical software, and Autodesk CFD software are used to address this challenge more efficiently. KickStart has been expanding their line of human-powered irrigation pumps for more than 15 years, and the introduction of Autodesk, Inc., software and 3D printing have improved workflow by shortening the concept-to-completion product-development cycle and offset some of the challenges of prototyping and batch producing locally, in Kenya, on the way to mass manufacture. This session features Inventor Professional, CFD, Fusion 360, and Simulation Mechanical.

Irrigation systems are often managed in silos: Reservoirs, canals, and farm distribution lack integrated visibility, leading to inefficiencies and water losses. This session will demonstrate how Autodesk water infrastructure solutions can create a connected, data-driven irrigation system. InfoWorks ICM is used to model river basins and canal hydraulics, while InfoWorks WS Pro simulates pressurized distribution networks. InfoAsset Manager structures irrigation assets for seamless integration, and Info360 Insight enables real-time monitoring and operational decisions. In this session, you will learn practical workflows to improve water allocation, reduce losses, and enable demand-based irrigation using simulation, asset intelligence, and analytics.

This class will expand your learning with VRED Design and introduce you to preparing a scene to use in virtual reality. We will cover scene considerations, data optimisation, and workflows to utilise VR for design review with animation, interactions, and collaboration. We will show how to utilise VRED presenter as a platform to share your visual rich interactive designs.

Why have 30 different irrigation blocks in your drawing when you only need four with visibility states? Why are you guessing at what rotation you should place a stop sign? Want to show a different striping arrow in two clicks? These are just a few of the things that will be covered in this class on Dynamic Blocks. This instructional demo will cover multiple types of Dynamic Blocks using a combination of dynamic parameters. Blocks shown in the presentation will include different combinations of visibility states, rotation, stretch, attributes, alignment, and more.

When asked to design some fishing lures, I found myself wishing that I knew Alias® software. However, I just didn't have the time to learn new software and dove into the project with Inventor 3D CAD software. Along the way I learned some valuable tips and tricks about working with complex lofts and surfaces. In this class, I explain the evolution of several fishing lures. I cover the entire process: concept sketching, surfacing, mold analysis, and finally, the finished solid models. We go over lofting good practices that make future edits much easier and with far fewer failures. We also review exactly what surfacing can do for you in day-to-day modeling.

The "Canal do Sertão Alagoano" is an important initiative of the Brazilian government that aims to combat drought by providing access to water for various purposes, such as rural and urban human consumption, livestock watering, and irrigation. The successful implementation of this project can serve as a model for other regions facing similar challenges. In this session, you'll learn more about the implementation of the BIM Execution Plan (BEP) in a 27 km section of an open channel design. We'll highlight the collaboration between the design and construction teams and the clients through a common data environment (CDE). We'll discuss the complexity of 3D modeling for open channels in AutoCAD Civil 3D software, the use of Subassembly Composer to automate channel sections with multilayered earth fill, and the use of self-adjusting earth embankments to accommodate different soil materials. We'll also cover the use of Dynamo for minor automation and Navisworks software for design simulation.

Unlock your business potential! Discover emerging building-industry trends, scope generative-design projects, and target solutions in a 90-minute scenario-based think tank with industry peers. Last year, we introduced the idea of outcome-based design in the Autodesk University course, “The Business Value of Computational and Generative Design for Executives.” This year, we are pushing further to develop actionable plans for implementation by design technologists and computational and generative designers. Attendees will form teams to discover opportunities for automation, rationalization, and optimization with design challenges that push the limits on design requirements and process innovation. A panel of reviewers from Autodesk will award one team with the Future is a Design Challenge Award for Excellence in Strategy Development.

Get familiar and up-skilled with architectural metalwork detailing using Advance Steel. In this hands-on lab you will learn how to detail a balcony unit complete with custom user sections and glazed panels. I will show all the tools in Advance Steel Revit that can be utilised for architectural metalwork detailing. As part of the lab, we will create all the required fabrication drawings and bill of materials. I will also share my tips and tricks about architectural detailing to help you produce your fabrication details