Toyohashi University of Technology has developed a hands-on, design-to-make course designed to help students enjoy learning while steadily building practical skills.
A smartphone-stand project, made from low-cost materials and fabricated with a laser cutter, helps the university make hands-on learning practical and scalable for large classes.
The course uses an integrated design-to-make workflow that combines CAD, CAE, and CAM.
The initiative was presented to the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers and received the prestigious JSME Education Award.
The curriculum provides a practical model for delivering large-scale, hands-on manufacturing education.
Toyohashi University of Technology places a strong emphasis on cultivating advanced engineers and future leaders by exploring the scientific principles that underpin technology and creating new innovations based on those insights. The university offers a wide range of undergraduate programs and graduate majors, including Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Applied Chemistry and Life Science, and Architecture and Urban Systems.
Since its establishment 50 years ago, the university has consistently implemented practice-based education. A distinctive feature of its curriculum is the Practical Training program, in which all fourth-year students work in-house with companies for two months. Through this experience, they learn how engineers in real-world settings approach and solve technical challenges.
The “CAD/CAE/CAM Practice” course, offered as an elective in the second half of the third year, is taught by three faculty members: Professor Moeto Nagai (micro–nano systems and devices), Professor Yuji Nakamura (combustion engineering), and Professor Tadaharu Adachi (materials mechanics), supported by technical staff and teaching assistants.
Autodesk Fusion adoption at Toyohashi University of Technology accelerated during the COVID‑19 pandemic and is a now a standard.
“Our previous CAD software could only be used in computer labs due to strict OS, hardware, and license requirements,” Nagai says. “Fusion is cloud‑based and reduces the load on intensive tasks, such as simulation and toolpath generation. It also runs on both Windows and Mac, allowing students to access it from their own devices. Removing these constraints gives students more time to focus on design.”
Fusion’s integrated platform enables students to learn design, analysis, and manufacturing in one continuous workflow, gaining experience that closely mirrors real-world development. With the platform, students acquire industry-ready competencies such as design thinking grounded in real constraints, manufacturability evaluation, and collaborative problem solving.
Fusion’s free availability for educational institutions and flexible license management further accelerated adoption. Although the transition required replacing long‑used CAD software, both faculty and students adapted quickly.
Previously, the course workflow ended with CAD and CAE due to resource limitations. The move to Fusion—an integrated platform supporting CAD, CAM, CAE, and PCB—enabled the course to evolve into a fully end‑to‑end, design to make exercise incorporating CAM.
Nakamura had long envisioned integrating CAM into their curriculum. “Many universities complete design education with just the design and the software,” he says. “But when students actually try to make the part, they often discover that a perfect digital design is impossible to manufacture. Awareness of real manufacturing processes only develops when students physically make something themselves.”
According to Nakamura, there are three barriers common across universities for the CAM education integration: limited machine tools, difficulty designing appropriate assignments, and insufficient technical staff support.
Integrating CAM operations in a class of 60 students was a significant challenge. To make this feasible, a new course adopted an assignment in which each student used a laser cutter to process a single sheet of A3 size thick paper and fabricate a smartphone stand.
“Combining paper with a laser cutter is inexpensive, easy to handle, and requires very short machining time,” Nagai says. “ This combination is the key to enabling CAM practice at scale.
“Unlike wood, this material lacks high rigidity,” Adachi adds. “If students don’t consider its material properties, the part won’t take the shape they expect. That difficulty deepens their learning.”
The project material can be processed in about 10 minutes and mistakes are inexpensive to fix, making the process less stressful for instructors. Once technical staff checked the machine-operation data, the laser cutter ran automatically, allowing one staff member to oversee the process.
“What made the biggest difference was choosing a task students genuinely enjoy and creating a smartphone stand,” Adachi says.
Students explored optimization tools, calculated Young’s modulus, and even performed strength measurements with spring scales. Their creativity exceeded expectations, demonstrating strong independent thinking within this project-based exercise.
Technical staff cooperation was indispensable and supported nearly all requests. They now handle CAM practice for up to 70 students.
“While many universities downsize technical divisions, we maintain this expertise,” Nakamura says. “Contributing to education is essential for demonstrating organizational value.”
Nakamura identifies three key factors behind the course’s success: resources that can support hands on learning at scale, assignments designed around those resources, and close collaboration with technical staff. “With these three elements in place, I believe this approach can be replicated at other universities,” he says.
The course spans 16 weeks and adopts a two-stage, design-to-make process for the smartphone stand. After two weeks of tool self‑study and FEM lectures, students spend six weeks on the first CAD/CAE design phase, followed by a mid‑term review. They then refine their designs for five more weeks before experiencing the making phase using CAM. In the final week, students present their completed work.
Students teach one another, share information using Fusion’s collaboration features, and receive support from teaching assistants. Developing self-management and independent learning skills is a core objective. “Fusion offers an extensive library of tutorials,” Adachi says. “We give students 1-2 weeks to work through them.”
Students come from diverse backgrounds, including technical colleges, materials science, and high schools. Personal PCs and easy access to Fusion outside class hours play a major role.
“We don’t see significant differences based on previous schools,” Nagai says. “Fusion is intuitive. Students can quickly learn it on their own. Teaching every operation step‑by‑step may no longer be necessary.”
The course focuses on providing a learning environment that encourages autonomy and collaboration. Despite initial concerns about idea fatigue, each year brings diverse and inventive designs.
“No two smartphone-stand projects are the same,” Adachi says. “Presenting their work and engaging with a task they care about sparks their desire to create something original.”
Survey results from the course show significant skill improvement. CAE and CAM proficiency increased from 1.8 to 2.8 on a four‑point scale. Course satisfaction reached 3.8 out of 5, and understanding scored 4.5. Students clearly felt they had gained solid knowledge and skills.
This initiative has been documented as a successful case study and presented at the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers as well as the International Symposium on Advances in Technology Education (ISATE), an international engineering education conference held in Singapore.
“Let students take the lead,” Adachi advises. “Provide opportunities for self‑directed learning. And, remember, failure is part of the learning process.”
With the success of the course, the university is looking to grow the design-to-make learning opportunities.
“This course prompted us to unify all design‑related software into Fusion,” Nakamura says. “There is still considerable potential for expansion. Successful cases like this will support broader adoption as curriculum is revised.”
Fusion is now the standard design tool in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “I use simulations to explain complex ideas , and students can experience them directly. The range of applications continues to grow,” Adachi adds.
Industry demand for engineers who have experience for the entire design-to-make process is growing. For Toyohashi University of Technology, their bold, new curriculum is helping make this a reality.
