D3D_OCTNOV25 by X3DMEDIA

How Riddell is using advanced design and materials to protect players WHAT’S HOT IN 2025?

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ABOUT

During the course of 2025, the DEVELOP3D team has covered many, many miles across trade-show ﬂoors around the world in order to see the latest technologies, and we’ve plenty more miles to travel before the New Year.

You’ll see the results of our e orts in this issue, particularly in the D3D 30 listings, which include some truly incredible new ﬁnds that we think you’ll want to know about (see page 24).

On our travels, we’ve heard plenty of chatter about the burgeoning movement to reindustrialise production and reshore critical manufacturing. So far, this hasn’t gone much further than the industries you’d expect – mostly defence and space, sectors associated with low volumes, high customisation and deep pockets. But in order to shift even some production around the tari s and back on to home soil, the movement has to start somewhere.

Whatever the eventual outcome, there’s a renewed sense of optimism around producing parts at volume in the US, UK and Europe, and that’s also reﬂected in the latest technologies.

Our cover story for this issue takes a look at how 3D printing continues to creep ever closer to the mainstream, in the form of Riddell’s Axiom 3D helmet. Riddell’s means of manufacture allows for a better product overall, one that requires less testing and offers greater customisation, comfort and user experience. It can also be produced in the US for the domestic market. And most importantly, it helps protect its wearer better than any other helmet that has ever existed – an achievement only possible thanks to Carbon’s 3D printing and materials science technology.

There’s also a look at Aston Martin’s partnership with J. Laverack to produce a very special road bike, as well as the equally high-end Donkervoort and its eyecatching new supercar. In both cases, these are products for connoisseurs with big budgets and the results are still impressive. The .1R bike is not only bespoke and driven by purpose, but also is aesthetically beautiful. The air cooler design for the upcoming Donkervoort P24 RS is so e cient and compact, it’s a marvel of engineering.

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In conclusion, the most advanced manufacturing methods are allowing the most exciting products to be made. Hopefully, bringing more of that technology closer to home is going to drive even greater design, and allow more of us to access it.

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NEWS

Autodesk unleashes Neural CAD AI foundation models, CAM Assist 2.0 unveiled, ExOne and VoxelJet come together for large format AI casting and more

FEATURES

Comment: Adrian Wright on the rise of the machines

Comment: Rich Wetzel on the AM training imperative

Visual Design Guide: Logitech MX Master 4 mouse

COVER STORY TOUCHDOWN AT RIDDELL

The D3D 30: This year’s hottest tech for product design

Event report: Autodesk University 2025

Boltless beauty: J.Laverack & Aston Martin’s bike design

Final frontier: Metals 3D printing and the QL-1 rocket

Material world: Goodfellow’s guide to advanced materials

Donkervoort’s water-charge air coolers from Conflux

Crest of a wave: Arc’s new all-electric leisure craft

Ship shape: NMIS weighs up maritime lightweighting

THE LAST WORD

New ways to manufacture products offer designers huge advantages, so why do so many stick to tried-andtest approaches, asks Stephen Holmes? The answer, he writes, lies in modernising industry education for all

AUTODESK UNLEASHES NEURAL CAD AI FOUNDATION MODELS

Autodesk has introduced Neural CAD, a new category of 3D generative AI foundation models coming to its Fusion and Forma products, which company executives claim will completely reimagine the traditional software engines that create CAD geometry and automate “80% to 90% of what you [designers] typically do” model."

Unlike general purpose large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, Autodesk's Neural CAD models are trained on professional design data, enabling them to reason at both a detailed geometry level and at a systems and industrial process level, exploring ideas like identifying the most efficient machine toolpaths or the optimal building floorplan layouts.

Autodesk says that, in the future, customers will be able to customise the neural CAD foundation models, by tuning them to their organisation’s proprietary data and processes.

So far, the company has presented two types of Neural CAD models, one for product geometry and another for buildings.

With Neural CAD for geometry, designers using Autodesk Fusion will be able to use language, sketching or imagery to produce first-class CAD geometry that can then be used directly in the product development and manufacturing processes.

With Neural CAD for buildings, meanwhile, architects using Autodesk Forma will be able to transition between early design concepts and more detailed building layouts and systems. www.autodesk.com

CAM Assist 2.0 adds AI and more user control

With the launch of CAM Assist 2.0, CloudNC is promising users the speed of AI-powered toolpath generation with new step-by-step oversight, giving programmers even greater control.

Improved workflows within CAM Assist 2.0 let users configure machines, materials and tool assemblies in minutes, review AI suggestions as they are made and export approved machining strategies directly into their CAM platform.

The web-based CAM automation application, which initiates from the user’s CAM package supporting 3-axis and 3+2 operations, features a new web user interface, from which the user still generates a working toolpath by pressing the CAM Assist button. CAM Assist 2.0 breaks out the AI stages so that parts can

be assessed prior to running. Moreover, as files are being computed, control over strategy editing is passed to the user.

The launch of CAM Assist 2.0 comes as CloudNC celebrates CAM Assist being used by over 1,000 machine shops globally to accelerate CNC programming with AI. www.cloudnc.com

ExOne and Voxeljet combine strengths

xOne and Voxeljet are being united under ExOne Global Holdings, combining the expertise of the two rival large-format binder jetting 3D printing companies.

The move concludes a period of business uncertainty for both companies, with the two businesses looking to integrate their operations to provide a broader product line, better aftermarket support and global printing services. For users, it presents a catalogue of 7 Voxeljet and three ExOne printing systems able to produce parts in sand, ceramics and polymers, as well as a range of application-focused binders. www.exone.com

Sandvik gets new ModuleWorks tech

ModuleWorks’ new GPU Simulation technology will launch first in new releases of Cimatron and Mastercam, as part of ModuleWorks’ strategic partnership with Sandvik.

ModuleWorks GPU Simulation uses GPU-accelerated processing to increase simulation speed. The combination of this technology with the multi-axis capabilities of Cimatron and Mastercam is designed to enable more efficient verification and programming workflows and increase job throughput. www.moduleworks.com

CAM Assist enables users to configure machines, materials and tools in minutes

Siemens partners with Trumpf

Siemens and leading machine tools and laser manufacturer Trumpf have partnered to join Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio with Trumpf’s machinebuilding and software expertise.

The partnership aims to address the disconnect between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) systems that can hinder production efficiency and innovation.

Users are set to benefit from increased operational efficiency, reduced engineering costs and future-proof scalability by using open, modular automation solutions to advance AI-readiness and reduce time-tomarket, according to spokespeople from the two companies. www.siemens.com

Autodesk Neural CAD models are trained on professional design data

MACHINA LABS LAUNCHES TECH FOR VEHICLE CUSTOMISATION

Machina Labs has announced its latest technology advancements for the customisation of automotive body panels and accessories without the need for extra tooling or dies away from existing production lines.

Machina’s RoboForming technology uses a proprietary form of incremental pressure forming – a robot positioned either side of the panel, shaping the design – to customise production body panels, eliminating the need for dedicated tooling per model variation. The use of robotic forming enables on-demand part production in low volumes from cells that can be placed near the existing assembly line, allowing for dynamic batching or broadcast-driven manufacturing – all without disrupting existing flow.

“Traditional production tools are often massive, comparable in size to a small car and weighing over 20 tons,” said Machina Labs CEO Ed Mehr. “With our solution, the need for dedicated tooling per model variation is eliminated. That means lower project capital, less storage both in-plant and for past models, which today can last up to 15 years, and faster production changeovers.”

The launch included a pilot of the technology with Toyota Motor North America and announcement of investment from Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth-stage venture investment arm.

“We envision a future where customisation is available for every Toyota driver,” said Zach Choate, general manager of production engineering and

core engineering manufacturing at Toyota Motor North America. “The ability to deliver a bespoke product into the hands of our customers is the type of innovation we are excited about.”

The automotive customisation and accessories industry was valued at $2.4 billion in 2024 for trucks alone. George Kellerman, founding managing director at Woven Capital, expects demand will continue to grow, while design teams and engineers need faster, more costeffective paths to create them without the constraints of traditional supply chains.

“We’re excited to team up with Machina Labs, supercharge their development roadmap in automotive, and support their journey in accelerating innovations that advance the future of manufacturing,” added Kellerman. www.machinalabs.ai

Engineers need faster ways to customise vehicles without supply chain constraints

ROUND UP

Arburg is withdrawing from additive manufacturing and will shelve products including the Freeformer and innovatiQ technologies for polymer 3D printing, but no mention has been made of ArburgAdditive being sold off or spun out at this stage www.arburg.com

DyeMansion has acquired fellow German 3D printing post processing company ASM, expanding its vapour smoothing portfolio with the addition of ASM’s VX1, an entry-level production solution that boasts an all-in-one, plug-and-play design and a small footprint www.dyemansion.com

Materialise has unveiled the 2025 Magics release with nTop implicit geometries integration, with a view to helping users overcome traditional 3D printing design challenges by reducing build preparation time from days to seconds, while maintaining design precision www.materialise.com

Onshape unveils AI Advisor for user guidance

PTC has announced that Onshape AI Advisor is now embedded directly in the CAD software’s design environment, providing realtime guidance as users create.

The latest Onshape update gives every user of the product immediate access to its new AI capabilities, which PTC notes as being powered by Amazon Bedrock.

With a redesigned interface, AI Advisor sits within the main Onshape workspace, providing users with step-by-step recommendations, troubleshooting features and best practices as they work.

The announcement also gave insight into PTC’s plans for AI within Onshape and potentially other software such as Creo, Windchill and Arena.

PTC says it is advancing agent workflows in Onshape to enable productivity, to

help collaboration via intelligent design agents and to support interaction with model metadata. They will also be capable of assisting with model troubleshooting tasks, generating FeatureScript code and streamlining repetitive operations that sap designers’ time. www.onshape.com

now offers a helping hand from AI in tasks that can eat up design time

LK Metrology has announced point cloud inspection package Focus 2025 R1 as part of its software suite to drive its H120 handheld laser scanners and Freedom scanning arms, as well as modernisation of its file menu, giving users clearer visibility of recent files www.lkmetrology.com

CAD Rooms has launched a cloud-based product data management (PDM) solution called CAD Rooms, which aims to eliminate technical silos and equip teams with tools to work regardless of location. It supports over 30 file formats and open standards like STEP and STL www.cadrooms.com

Onshape

AMULET HOTKEY BOOSTS 1:1 DATACENTRE WORKSTATIONS

Amulet Hotkey has updated its CoreStation HX2000 datacentre remote workstation with a new Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor option, delivering higher clock speeds and built-in NPU AI acceleration.

The CoreStation HX2000 is built around a 5U rack-mounted enclosure that can accommodate up to 12 single-width workstation nodes, which can be removed, replaced or upgraded.

Each workstation node is accessed by a single user over a 1:1 connection and can be configured with a choice of discrete MXM laptop GPUs – the Nvidia RTX A1000 (4 GB) or Nvidia RTX 2000 Ada (8 GB) –

making it well-suited to mainstream CAD and BIM workflows.

Features include redundant power and cooling, hot-swappable components and ‘full remote system management’, including core management capabilities such as secure remote access, power control, BIOS-level KVM access and system-wide firmware updates.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H features six performance (P) cores and eight efficient (E) cores and delivers clock speeds of up to 5.4 GHz. Although the processor is typically used in laptops, Amulet Hotkey says its datacentre integration provides greater power and cooling headroom than a mobile platform. www.amulethotkey.com

Lenovo launches its new ThinkPad P16 Gen3

Lenovo has redesigned its ﬂagship mobile workstation, the ThinkPad P16, with a new Gen 3 edition that is thinner, lighter and draws less power than its Gen 2 predecessor.

The 16-inch pro laptop features the latest ‘Arrow Lake’ Intel Core Ultra 200HX series processors (up to 24 cores and 5.5 GHz) and a choice of Nvidia graphics up to the RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell Generation (24 GB) Laptop GPU.

This workstation may come with a topend mobile CPU and GPU, but its smaller 180W power supply — down from 230W in the previous generation — suggests to DEVELOP3D that some performance may be left on the table. This would particularly true when configured with the RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell, which alone has a max power consumption of up to 175W.

Lowering power improves portability and energy efficiency, but could put Lenovo at a performance disadvantage against

rivals. However, the move could be seen as paving the way for a beefier 16-inch or 18inch model that might ultimately surpass the ThinkPad P16 Gen 3 as the company’s most powerful mobile workstation. www.lenovo.com

NexCAD launches AI Checker tool

NexCAD has launched AI Checker, an intelligent assistant to automate engineering drawing reviews, cut review times and prevent manufacturing errors.

At launch, AI Checker supports Autodesk Inventor and Solidworks, while the company plans to integrate further CAD softwares in the future.

AI Checker has been trained on engineering standards and best practices and has proven to be highly accurate. It also learns from user feedback to continuously improve its performance according to specific user requirements. www.nexcad.ai

OpenBOM unveils AI BOM Agent tool

OpenBOM has announced the private beta release of its AI BOM Agent with Model Context Protocol (MCP) support.

It's a vital ingredient in OpenBOM's vision of AI agents playing a vital role in BOM quality and validation, helping companies to ensure accuracy, consistency and readiness of data before that data flows into their procurement and production systems. www.openbom.com

Chaos V-Ray to support AMD GPUs

Lenovo's ThinkPad P16 is thinner, lighter and draws less power than its predecessor

Chaos V-Ray will soon support AMD GPUs, so that users of the photorealistic rendering software can choose from a wider range of graphics hardware, including the AMD Radeon Pro W7000 series and the AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro processor that has an integrated Radeon GPU.

Until now, V-Ray’s GPU renderer has been limited to Nvidia RTX GPUs via the CUDA platform, while its CPU renderer has long worked with processors from both Intel and AMD.

Chaos plans to roll out the changes publicly in every edition of V-Ray, including 3ds Max, SketchUp, Revit and Rhino, Maya and Blender.

At Autodesk University in September 2025, both Dell and HP showcased V-Ray running on AMD GPUs. www.chaos.com

A lack of adequate staﬀ training is a common weak link in the adoption of additive manufacturing, but with smart thinking and investment, it can be one of the simplest issues to solve, writes

Rich Wetzel of The Lanterman Group

Additive manufacturing (AM) is no longer a new technology – and we need to stop treating it as if it is. If we don’t, it will keep catching us by surprise. As with any production-grade technology, it only makes sense to invest in AM when investing in the entire workflow. Otherwise, it’s a recipe for failure.

Organisations investing in AM systems often underinvest in the skills and procedures that make them productive. As an industry, we must build up AM capabilities by building up the people responsible for them. In production, ‘good enough’ is never adequate.

We see this all the time, as AM moves from 3D printing for prototyping purposes to building molds, tooling, fixtures, final parts and other mission-critical structures. Rising rates of standardisation mean organisations expect better of parts, whatever the technology used to produce them.

If AM-made parts aren’t good enough, end users and others in the supply chain will reach the false conclusion that AM itself isn’t good enough. It’s time to face that gap and to work out best practices designed to bridge it.

BORING IS BEAUTIFUL

Manufacturing, at its best, is always boring. Boring is predictable, repeatable and reliable – all the things, in short, that manufactured parts must also be.

A good AM work cell looks boring. Builds begin on time, the standard test part sits nearby, and hand-offs between workers happen seamlessly.

When an error occurs, they know how to recognise it and what to do next. This is the result of a structured approach to people and process, which starts with investment in training.

The more AM falls under this umbrella, the more realisable the technology and its goals will be.

Training is often treated as a single event, and typically comes in the form of a vendor demonstration, with the assumption that proficiency in the process will follow. From there, daily practice is overshadowed and reliance on a few expert individuals becomes daily practice. This is an unfortunate reality experienced by many firms that didn’t invest in structured, skillsbased training.

This lack in training is one of the single biggest weak links in the AM chain – and one of the simplest to address to turn performance around.

Developing skills is one thing, but repeatable success in AM depends on different people making the right decisions at the right time. Specific roles require different types of training content and in different formats. For example, a designer would certainly benefit from instructor-led training when learning a new software, but a manager may receive more value from asynchronous online training. Organisations should build pathways to meet each role where the work actually happens.

To create scalable, repeatable successes, they should approach team training the same way. That means documenting successes and failures throughout and integrating these situations into refreshers for the team. Let training continue building upon a foundation, wrapping lessons learned into ongoing education.

At The Lanterman Group, we have seen measurable success among teams that approach their training with the same care that they devote to every other aspect of their end-to-end workflow. We’ve developed real-world tested training plans that target measurable goals, using blended learning that focuses on skills development for specific roles.

Interactive online modules, digestible content, asynchronous offerings and virtual reality are just some of the remote, yet hands-on, approaches that we’ve found effective.

Manufacturing, at its best, is boring – predictable, repeatable and reliable. All the things, in short, that manufactured parts must also be

TRAINING BUDGETS

People don’t become proficient in AM by attending a single training day. They get good by doing the work and putting in the practice in a way that’s enabled by the leaders of their organisation.

Take Ohio-based Humtown Additive, for example: the company built a capability around 3D-printed sand cores and moulds, scaling binder jet production and earning global recognition as an industry leader. Its success can be attributed to its investment in talent development and culture initiatives that treat learning as an operating system and not a one-off programme.

Your entire AM production flow remains dependent on a few individuals. Avoidable failures will occur, safety is compromised and quality varies by shift. This isn’t inevitable, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise, if training is treated as an afterthought.

Why invest in AM without investing in the expertise needed to use and manage expensive equipment and materials? That’s tripping at the (very costly) finish line, when what you should have done is more training before the race. Let’s approach the AM race like we mean to win it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rich Wetzel is president of The Lanterman Group, a Chagrin Falls, Ohio-based consulting company that focuses on building the AM workforce through expert-led training. Wetzel has worked with organisations including America Makes, the US Department of Defense and Youngstown State University www.thelantermangroup.com

In an era where manufacturing efficiency is more crucial than ever, businesses across the industry are looking for ways to reduce costs, minimise waste and enhance productivity.

Automation and Industry 4.0 have become buzzwords as well as dominant trends, with manufacturers increasingly integrating robotics, data-driven decision-making and smarter machinery into their processes.

It was previously predicted that by 2025, some 50% of manufacturers globally would adopt IoT technologies as part of their Industry 4.0 strategies. Adoption is driven by the potential for productivity increases of 20% to 35% and reductions in downtime of up to 50%.

However, one aspect that often gets overlooked in these discussions is energy efficiency — an area where modern CNC routers and fibre lasers are redefining what’s possible.

HIDDEN COSTS

Waste reduction is an ongoing challenge in manufacturing. While many businesses recognise the importance of optimising efficiency, few fully quantify the financial and environmental cost of material waste. Take, for example, a manufacturer that we at Daltons Wadkin recently spoke to about improving accuracy and driving efficiency gains. The company was discarding 20% of parts for every 1,000 parts produced, meaning that 200 parts per batch were going straight to waste. At another company, only three out of 16 precision blades met its required tolerances, resulting in a staggering 75% to 80% scrap rate. These inefficiencies aren’t just costly in terms of raw materials. They also have a direct impact on operational costs, including machine running times, energy consumption and additional labour. Data shows that companies can spend between 4% and 10% of their annual turnover on waste if they lack proper waste management strategies.

Industry reports suggest that manufacturing waste accounts for billions in losses annually. According to some reports, the manufacturing industry generates around 17% of global waste, further exacerbating supply chain constraints and environmental impact.

FINDING ALTERNATIVES

Traditional manufacturing processes often rely on outdated machinery with high energy consumption and inconsistent performance. In contrast, modern CNC routers have been engineered to optimise material usage, improve accuracy and significantly lower power consumption.

One of the primary advantages of CNC routers in multi-material manufacturing is their precision. By reducing deviation in cuts and machining, modern CNC routers minimise scrap, leading to both cost savings and sustainability benefits.

Furthermore, CNC routers integrate seamlessly with smart factory systems, offering real-time data insights on energy use, maintenance needs and material efficiency.

Beyond material savings, modern CNC routers also offer substantial energy efficiency benefits. The shift towards leaner, greener machines is evident in the latest developments across the industry.

During a recent trip to visit Italian press brake supplier Schaivi, I saw first-hand the importance of energy efficiency. The point driven home to press brake users is how fully electric small- and mediumsized machines are more efficient than full hydraulic machines and are offered in higher tonnage by comparison.

Smart automation is now also allowing press brakes to achieve job changeovers with zero operational setup time – a remarkable leap in efficiency.

For manufacturers, the financial case for energy-efficient machinery is clear. The cost of running high-energy, inefficient equipment quickly adds up, especially when

While many businesses recognise the importance of optimising efficiency, few fully quantify the financial and environmental cost of material waste

factoring in rising electricity prices and sustainability targets.

As manufacturers face growing pressure to cut costs while improving sustainability, those who invest in smarter solutions today are more likely to secure a long-term competitive edge.

Automation technologies have been shown to be capable of reducing energy consumption by up to 20% in manufacturing processes, yet despite such easy wins, many manufacturers still operate in a reactive mode, dealing with inefficiencies only when they become too costly to ignore. However, the businesses that will thrive in the future are those that proactively seek smarter solutions now.

The energy efficiency revolution in manufacturing is here, but only those who take action will reap its benefits.

As automation, robotics and data utilisation continue to define the industry, businesses must look beyond simply acquiring new machinery and instead invest in solutions that drive real, measurable efficiency and productivity gains.

The future of sustainable, costeffective manufacturing is within every manufacturer’s reach. For those looking to stay ahead of the curve, now is the time to rethink their approach to efficiency.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adrian Wright is a fibre laser and sheet metal specialist at Daltons Wadkin, a Nottingham, UK leader in implementing precision-driven CNC and laser solutions with the aim of helping manufacturers to cut down on waste and improve efficiency www.daltonsmachines.com

VISUAL DESIGN GUIDE LOGITECH MX MASTER 4

» Logitech’s new high-performance mouse reimagines user control with customisable haptic feedback that delivers subtle vibrations for scrolling, navigation and selection

LIGHT WORK

An 8,000 DPI sensor provides smooth, accurate tracking on virtually any surface, including glass

MATERIAL WORLD

In terms of its environmental credentials, the Master 4 boasts 48% post-consumer recycled plastics shell panels, a low-carbon aluminium thumb wheel and a battery based on 100% recycled cobalt. The mouse has also been designed for easy disassembly in preparation for recycling at the end of its useful life

INTUITIVE INTERACTION

Customisable haptic feedback delivers subtle vibrations that bring a tactile precision to design work, as well as tasks such as video editing and data analysis

Action Plan, a digital overlay enabled by Logi Options+, o ers app-speciﬁc shortcuts and customisable controls, saving users 33% of their time and reducing repetitive mouse movements by 63%, according to Logitech executives

The Haptic Sense Panel features a 3D design inspired by ripples on water developed using computational design tools and producing a pattern that the company says embodies “the craftsmanship of the digital era”

SCROLL

For its Axiom 3D helmet, Riddell uses additive manufacturing to build the liner components that deliver improved impact response

TOUCH

» In a sport where powerful collisions are all part of the action, protecting players is a priority. Stephen Holmes speaks to helmet manufacturer Riddell about Axiom 3D, its latest product that brings computational design and 3D-printed polymer lattices onto the ﬁeld

The thump of protective pads connecting. The crack of helmets colliding. The gasps as breath is forcibly expelled at speed from lungs. The thud of hefty bodies hitting the ground.

American football is a tough game.

Contact between players in the NFL (National Football League) can be perilous, thanks to the sheer forces that come into play when athletes in peak physical condition and minds focused on victory meet on the ﬁeld. Even at lower and amateur levels, this sport can be extremely punishing for competitors.

With the aim of protecting players at all levels, Riddell Sports Group has been at the forefront of helmet design ever since founder John Tate Riddell launched the ﬁrst plastic shell helmet in 1939. Over the decades, Riddell has added innovations including chin straps, face masks and air-ﬁlled padding.

Its research in the area of materials has seen thermoplastics and polycarbonate polymers contribute to increased protection and enabled colour to be baked into helmets since the 1940s, enhancing the spectator experience with recognisable colours and team identities.

In the 2000s, helmet manufacturers began to focus more speciﬁcally on addressing the risk of concussion. Helmet forms and materials were updated thanks to new testing methods. Electronics like Riddell’s Head Impact Telemetry Systems introduced sensors that have since collected well over two million data points relating to onﬁeld impacts.

One of the greatest modern evolutions to the helmet arrived in 2019, with the arrival of individually tailored polymer lattice structures, which replaced massproduced foams. This success – and its subsequent enhancement – is reﬂected in one of Riddell’s latest products, the Axiom 3D, which today is rated the number one helmet available to NFL players.

A CLOSE EYE ON THE BALL

Throughout his career, Thad Ide has kept on top of all these developments. In his current role as Riddell’s chief product oﬃcer, he oversees the incorporation of cuttingedge design approaches and carefully monitors players’ changing attitudes to the equipment that keeps them safe.

“Twenty-ﬁve years ago, I think players were a lot more resistant to change and to new technology than they are

today,” he says, speaking from Riddell’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. “I think that now, they’re far more receptive to legitimate new technologies that can help them perform better, stay healthy and stay on the ﬁeld.”

A big part of this mindshift comes down to customisation. Today’s helmets are designed not just for the part played by each position out on the ﬁeld, from quarterbacks to wide receivers, but also for the exact dimensions of each individual player.

Ensuring an exact ﬁt used to involve a Riddell representative travelling cross-country and lugging a large Pelican case to each team’s equipment room, to set up a 3D scanning station there. Today, the data capture process far simpler and more seamless, according to Ide, and is used not just for a team’s brightest stars, but also its up-andcoming hopefuls.

It’s so much simpler, in fact, that a team’s own equipment staﬀ can be trained to perform full head scans themselves, with the process taking only minutes.

That said, Riddell representatives continue to visit toplevel teams regularly, says Ide. “It gives us the opportunity to have some interaction with the players, to learn about what they want from the product, how they want it to ﬁt and about diﬀerent aspects of the product that make it unique to them.”

It’s vitally important that members of the Riddell design team keep up to date with how the science around head protection and injury prevention is evolving and that they constantly monitor the latest research and studies from around the world.

They must also understand the needs of players at diﬀerent levels of the sport. “Somebody who’s buying helmets for 12-year olds is maybe not thinking about it the same way as people buying helmets for elite university athletes or professional athletes,” says Ide.

“That’s kind of our job: to understand what goes on at every level of play, and what features and attributes in the helmet can best serve the athletes at that level of play.”

At youth level, for example, teams are particularly focused on protecting young athletes and will naturally gravitate towards the best protection available – yet at the same time, such purchases also need to take into account budgetary and aesthetic considerations.

“You shouldn’t underestimate the inﬂuence a teenager asking for something can have on his coaches or athletic directors,” Ide says.

This ‘mirror test’ is an important consideration, because Riddell’s designers are aware they can build the very best protective product in the world – but if players don’t want to wear it, it’s not protecting anyone.

● 1 Replacing foam with custom lattices means helmets can be customised for each player’s head

● 2 Riddell’s Axiom 3D is currently rated the number one helmet for player safety in the NFL

‘‘ I want to give the design team the software package that allows them to their job the way they want to do their job and create the best product

Thad Ide, Riddell Sports Group

FEEDBACK LOOP

Riddell’s design team is hardly short on feedback, given that almost 80% of NFL players wear the company’s helmets, a proportion that jumps to around 89% of players at college level.

Aside from some early sketch concepts, Riddell’s workﬂow quickly jumps into digital mode, says Ide. “We put a design right into either Creo or Solidworks very early on in the process, because that allows us to then create 3D-printed prototypes that we can evaluate – the look, the aesthetic, sometimes even physical prototypes that are testable.”

Known in the industry as ‘the Helmet Guru’, Ide has worked in team sports helmet design for over 30 years.

He is keen to point out that Riddell gives members of its design and engineering team the freedom to choose any software that they think can make a diﬀerence when it comes to adding safety to the design. For CAD, this means PTC Creo and Dassault Systèmes Solidworks, but also McNeel Rhino, among others.

“I want to give them the software package that allows them to do their job the way they want to do their job and create the best product,” he says.

This approach also applies to simulation. The team uses Ansys LS Dyna and its FEA toolset for simulating drop tests and impacts, for example. However, simulating the whole protective system of each helmet conﬁguration

can prove overly complex when compared to physically building a helmet and putting it through its paces.

Ide says that the design and testing laboratory at its Riddell’s headquarters is second to none, allowing the team to produce full-scale prototypes and put them through a variety of impact tests. They then take those results back to the design, in order to develop the next iteration – something that can often tell the engineers more about a design in the long run.

“Ultimately, it’s going to have to perform in the physical world. That’ll be the ultimate grade of the product,” he says.

LATTICES AND LINEBACKERS

Riddell has a number of 3D printing and machining capabilities for prototyping, but the ability to prototype faster and with greater accuracy has been signiﬁcantly boosted by the company’s adoption of digital light synthesis 3D printing from Carbon.

Having ﬁrst adopted the technology in 2019 for its SpeedFlex helmet platform, this is how Riddell incorporates 3D printed lattice pad structures inside the helmet liner in a custom ﬁt for each individual player.

The use of additive manufacturing has removed the need for tooling, and the same polymer, EPU 45, is used in production as well in testing. As a result, the designers can tune the impact performance of a helmet rapidly to get the responses they want, knowing that the end product will pass all necessary tests. By not having to commit to hard-tooling to produce parts, they are also free to continue developing and upgrading a product after its launch.

The Riddell team works very closely with the Carbon team based in Redwood City, California, particularly its application specialists, with their advice on using Carbon Design Engine to generate lattices, identify appropriate materials and custom-tune products.

“The same lattice doesn’t work the same everywhere in the helmet,” explains Ide, “so you have to have custom lattices that work all around the player’s head.”

With constant design iterations and test feedback, Riddell is now able to customise helmets to tune the compliance and dampening provided by sections of the lattice for the speciﬁc needs of diﬀerent player positions.

“There’s a way to tune them for the types of impacts that a quarterback would be expected to see, or a lineman would be expected to see, or an all-purpose player. So, the latticing structure that the Carbon technology supports lets us tune the liners.”

Using 3D scan data – now provided by Riddell’s own Verifyt app, which uses a mobile phone’s camera –Axiom helmets ﬁt to the surface of each player’s head exactly. The whole internal system of the helmet, in fact, is lined with protective material.

Regardless of the lattice form they take, 3D-printed materials have to perform in every environment in

● 3 Carbon Design Engine is used to develop the intricate lattices for each section of a helmet

● 4 3D-printed lattice liners are ﬁtted to Axiom 3D helmet shells

● 5 Riddell’s testing lab is one of the best-equipped for testing head impacts

which the sport is played. It could be freezing nights in Detroit, scorching afternoons in Arizona or damp, foggy mornings in Seattle. Materials must remain stable and perform well regardless of climatic conditions, and this is a key selling point of Carbon’s EPU 45 polymer.

The Axiom helmet design also features engineered flex points in its outer shell. These were first debuted in the 2014 SpeedFlex helmet, along with a hinged cantilever panel at the front of the shell. The Axiom design takes this concept and runs with it, adding fl ex panels to the sides and the rear of the shell as well. These are selectively tuned to deliver the best impact response.

“You might ask, ‘Why didn’t you do that right oﬀ the bat in the SpeedFlex in 2014?’ And the short answer to that is because it was a scary prospect – taking

away from the shell!” says Ide. “We needed to see how it performed on the ﬁeld before we expanded the concept.”

With the wellbeing of players on the line and every moment of a game scrutinised in high deﬁnition, the stakes are high. “Nobody wants to see anything fail on the ﬁeld. We spend a lot of time engineering our products so they perform as people expect them to perform.”

Ide hopes that Riddell can now drive its 3D-printed lattice helmet technology down to high school players and younger. “I can see the protective advantages and the ﬁ t advantages. We’re working to do that,” he says.

Regardless of the high-stakes action on the ﬁeld, nothing is more important than player safety – and Riddell’s got that covered.

www.riddell.com

● 6 Riddell produces its helmet liners using Carbon’s L13D printers and EPU 45 resin

● 7 ‘The Helmet Guru’: Riddell’s chief product o cer Thad Ide

SUZY SLS 3D Printer

Build volume: 130 x 180 x

Build speed: up to 20 mm/h

Layer height: 75 microns

Max part size: 398mm

Laser: 30W IR fibre

Materials:

Fellten Transforms Classic Cars into Clean EVs

By: Emily Suzuki

With the numerous innovative electric vehicles on the road today, it may seem surprising to consider that a classic, gas-powered car could be more sustainable than its modern counterparts. Picture this: under the hood, the engine is removed and replaced with a smooth, reliable battery. No new materials or manufacturing are required. It’s a bold move for the circular economy and the ultimate reuse of existing vehicles. Less noise, less pollution, and the undeniably cool, retro style remains.

This isn’t just hypothetical. Based in the UK, Fellten is making the transformation and retroﬁts of old MINI Coopers, Porsches, and Land Rovers into clean electric vehicles a reality.

“The goal is to basically give all of these classic cars a new life by creating a solution that you can bolt in without changing the bones,” says Lucy Dicken, design engineer, Fellten.

“With our projects, we’re basically taking an item that was not designed to be electric, which involves a humongous amount of design and development,” adds Chris Hazell, co-founder and CEO, Fellten. “We’re fundamentally taking a battery that’s

normally underneath a car and making it engineshaped to put under the hood. At the same time, we’re doing this without making any modiﬁcations to the original chassis or vehicle at all.”

And, from the very beginning, they’ve used Autodesk Fusion to bring their electric battery systems and products to life.

Inside look at the design process

Of course, it isn’t as simple as taking a battery and swapping out the combustible engine in a classic car. Each vehicle is different and requires its own speciﬁc design to ensure all the electronics and battery will ﬁt—whether it’s a MINI Cooper, Porsche, or Land Rover.

“We get a lot of scan data that we import into Fusion just to make sure our designs will ﬁt before we go on to prototype and then manufacture to install in real life,” Dicken says. “We also keep the weight as close to the original car as possible, so it handles and performs the same way.”

Their design workﬂow typically starts with a brainstorming session to collect the team’s input and agreement on an idea to move forward. It then goes into Fusion, where a rough CAD design is started to include critical dimensions,

electronics, and features where the entire team can collaborate seamlessly in the cloud. After a design review, a new, clean CAD model is completed with all the ﬁnishing touches. Then it’s on to physical prototyping for testing to ﬁnal design for manufacturing. The entire process typically clocks in at around three months.

“Batteries are extremely heavy, and lifting one in and out of a vehicle to do measurements and the like is just not an option,” Hazell says. “With Fusion, we can basically take every single component, visualize it in a 3D space, and test multiple iterations quickly.

“If you did this physically, it would take months and months, and you’d spend a huge amount of money on materials and trying things out,” he adds.

“In the CAD world with Fusion, you can very quickly design, develop, and test. We can also do stress analysis and even look at things like ﬂow rates with our liquid cooling plates to make sure we’re getting the right cooling systems for the batteries.”

Cars and boats are only the beginning Fellten isn’t limiting itself to only car retrofits and has continued to evolve with the design of electric battery packs for a variety of applications, including brand new boats. They have also strategically identified the need for better charging infrastructure for fleet customers to adopt electric vans.

With that opportunity in mind, Fellten is now expanding with the new Charge Qube, an innovative mobile solution that brings scalable energy storage and EV charging anywhere. It repurposes EV batteries, enabling them to live on another 15-20 years to charge new electric ﬂeets. Charge Qube can either be used with 3-phase grid supply or renewable energies such as solar or wind, and it’s highly transportable to remote and even semipermanent locations.

“The main goal for Fellten is to provide a more

sustainable future, looking at end-of-life battery packs, especially with the Charge Qube,” Dicken says. “We want to provide a circular economy for end-of-life battery packs, giving them another use and providing a charging solution that can be deployed basically anywhere in the world.”

“What excites me most about Fellten is the fact that we’re actually going to start making a massive environmental difference,” Hazell adds. “Yes, we’ve been saving beautiful classics and retraining people into a new industry. But with our energy storage products, we’re actually going to be able to get highemission van ﬂeets transitioning to electric faster. We’re going to help that transition to a net-zero world as fast as possible, and we can use Fusion to design these products to help make it happen.”

Inpreviousrolesatcompaniesusing othersoftware,I’dhavetowaituntilthe mechanicalteamwouldactuallyﬁnish theirdesignbeforeIcouldstartonmy ownelectricaldesign.WithFusion,Ican startbeforethey’redone,anditsaves days,ifnotweeks,oftime

LouisMalster,HeadofElectronics Development,Fellten

» Welcome to The D3D 30, our round-up of 30 new technologies from around the world that we firmly believe could deliver a major boost to your product development work

It’s that time of year again, when the DEVELOP3D team presents its list of 30 new and exciting technologies that look likely to impact the workflows of product designers, engineers and marketers. Welcome to the D3D 30 for 2025.

As you might expect, artificial intelligence (AI) pops up frequently, with many of the best new tools and updates leaning on AI in some way or another. From CAM assistants to 3D scanning software, the addition of AI can speed up mundane tasks and provide users with helpful advice and guidance.

AI is also showing up in established 3D CAD packages, most often as an intelligent assistant, but clearly poised to play a bigger role in the near future. The likely repercussions of that are still up for debate –but readers can expect AI in CAD to do far more than simply point them towards the correct button to click.

Lots of new AI technology brings lots of new names to the table. These are often start-ups, but in many cases, they’re helmed by executives with many years of industry experience and a deep understanding of what product designers and engineers need from their software tools.

The D3D 30 isn’t just about AI, however. There’s also some exciting hardware to explore here, as well as updates to existing tools that make tried-and-tested workflows much smoother or faster.

As ever, we want to remind you that, unlike many other awards and rankings, the companies and technologies on our list are chosen entirely on merit. There’s no entry fee to pay and no flashy blacktie ceremony. There’s certainly no pay-to-play fee demanded of the companies on this list. Our aim is simply to help readers identify the tools that will help them design and build the products of the future.

3D SYSTEMS

FIGURE 4 135

Automation-ready

The 3D Systems Figure 4 has established itself as a workhorse 3D printer since the ‘Standalone’ version launched in 2018. Its latest incarnation, the 135, builds on the platform’s broad materials catalogue and high-definition output with out-of-the-box accuracy and repeatability.

The Figure 4 135 is designed for high-mix, low-volume manufacturing, typically replacing or supplementing injection moulding. When combined with a material such as 3D Systems’ own flame-retardant Touch 75C FR Black, the move from prototype to production is only a click away for parts like electrical connectors. New automation features come as standard, giving the 135 the power to evolve in line with your demands. www.3dsystems.com

ALLOY ENTERPRISES

COPPER STACK FORGING

Cooler

runnings

An alternative to 3D printing metal, Alloy Enterprises’ trademarked Stack Forging process supports single-piece construction while eliminating the leak points common in traditional liquid cooling systems. With a build volume of 300 x 250 x 200mm, the Stack Forging process can now be used to create copper parts as well as aluminium parts, bringing new opportunities to its target market of liquid cooling equipment for data centre hardware. Compared to traditional cooling methods, Alloy’s topology optimised designs can use targeted liquid cooling where heat loads are highest, while a massive reduction in pressure required means smaller pumps and greater energy savings. www.alloyenterprises.co

AMD RYZEN AI MAX PRO

Max headroom

With up to 16 high-performance CPU cores and a remarkably powerful integrated GPU, the AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro delivers serious performance in a small, energy-efficient package and sets a new benchmark for compact workstations.

Its memory architecture is where the AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro really shines. The integrated GPU can access up to 96 GB of system memory, handling large datasets smoothly, with none of the VRAM bottlenecks or out-ofmemory crashes you see with some discrete GPUs. That makes it ideal for memory-intensive AI and viz workflows, especially since support was recently added for tools such as KeyShot and (later this year) Chaos V-Ray. www.amd.com

AUTODESK NEURAL CAD AI beginnings

Neural CAD is Autodesk’s 3D generative AI foundation model and executives at the company claim it’s set to transform geometry creation in Fusion and potentially automate up to 90% of routine tasks.

It’s still early days for Neural CAD, but initial demonstrations show promise. For example, users might use it to add a handle to a power drill that is not only aligned correctly but also adheres to the existing design intent.

Neural CAD models are trained on professional design data, so that the technology can reason at both a detailed geometry level and at a systems and industrial process level. Autodesk has big plans for this technology (for more details, see page 32).

www.autodesk.com

DASSAULT SYSTÈMES CATIA STELLAR RENDER ENGINE

Stellar results

Catia’s styling and visualisation tools have undergone a glow-up in the

company’s 2025x release, with its dated renderer now supplanted by the faster, sharper and more realistic Stellar Interactive Rendering Engine. The update is ideal for appraising the aesthetics of Catia’s Class-A surfacing while

keeping the workflow in the same software. Stellar Interactive Render Mode offers optimised global illumination, bridging the gap between real-time and maximum-quality rendering, while laying on physical-based lighting,

materials and human perspective. This makes it a great option for surface designers who must continuously check a model’s surface appeal and need fast feedback on how they’re doing. www.3ds.com

BACKFLIP AI SCAN-TO-CAD

Scanning made good

Backflip’s AI model can transform 3D scan data into parametric CAD in a matter of seconds, with plug-ins available for Solidworks, Onshape and a standalone web app. Automatically converting surface data into clean geometries designed for existing 3D CAD is a huge timesaving and doing it with intelligence is key – a factor strengthened by the Backflip team’s background in manufacturing. The company’s plug-ins show each step of the process used to build a part’s geometry, generating a native feature history that users can modify, enabling them to fine-tune a generated 3D model in the CAD environment to which they’re most accustomed.

www.backﬂip.ai

BAMBU LAB H2D PRO

Desktop darling

The H2D Pro has firmly established consumer favourite Bambu Lab in the professional space. This enterprise-focused desktop 3D printer comes with dual tungsten carbide extruders that can reach 350C and a 120C build plate, enabling it to handle tougher carbon-filled materials. Yet it’s the speed and accuracy of the 3D printer that are its main strengths, offering output that is genuinely impressive for such a fast-working machine.

Available through local resellers, technical support is now an option, but with a fully loaded version costing around £3,000, it’s a lowrisk way to add more in-house production capabilities to your organisation’s armoury. www.bambulab.com

CADENCE MILLENNIUM PLATFORM

Simulation on steroids

Picking up where the CFD-focussed Millennium M1 leaves off, the M2000 supercomputer has been built by Cadence in partnership with Nvidia, in order to tackle broader AIaccelerated, multiphysics simulations for engineering applications.

To call it a luxury would be an understatement, but this turnkey combination of powerful hardware (Nvidia HGX B200 systems, RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs and CUDA-X libraries and solver software) and Cadence’s simulation software promises deeper insights from AI to tackle the most complex multiphysics simulations.

Available as either a cloud-service or on-premise supercomputer, it’s a blazing hot option when speed and scale are needed. www.cadence.com

CAMPFIRE XR DESIGN REVIEW

Immersive insights

Campfire’s XR Design Review spatial collaboration platform comes with broad hardware support for headsets, iPads and other devices, allowing anyone to join a design review in the most immersive way possible, be they in the boardroom or on the factory floor.

Capable of displaying interactive 3D scenes, users can examine, pull apart and edit designs. They can also draw measurement lines on their designs and on real-life elements around them for speedy measuring. Above all, this is a smooth and slick visual experience that’s quick to start and allows the users to see others in the ‘room’, bringing reviews to life wherever you are. www.campﬁre3d.com

DYNDRITE LBPF PRO

Laser accuracy

For users of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) metal 3D printers, the level of control provided by Dyndrite’s software, along with its speed of preparing files and generating toolpaths, is eyecatching stuff.

Built on Dyndrite’s GPUaccelerated engine, LBPF Pro can handle huge complex geometry files and large data sets including native CAD with ease, hooking up directly to your EOS, Nikon SLM, Renishaw, Additive Industries or Aconity3D printer. More machines are to be added in the future at no extra cost.

It’s smart and intuitive, while the ability to add part marking and labelling at the earliest stages reduces the risk of process errors. www.dyndrite.com

COLAB AUTO REVIEW

Extra eye

According to executives at CoLab, designers spend nearly a quarter of their time on time-sapping administrative tasks. The company’s AI-powered Auto Review is designed to help users avoid repetitive design checks and get back to doing what they do best – designing. Auto Review is capable of observing common standards and practices, as well as any company-specific design rules, and can validate 2D and 3D models in PTC Creo, Siemens NX, Dassault Systèmes Solidworks and Catia. The technology is also able to flag any design features that have previously led to manufacturing issues, product failures or warranty claims, putting such problems firmly in the past.

www.colabsoftware.com

DASSAULT SYSTÈMES SOLIDWORKS AURA

A glowing feature

Solidworks boasts the largest installed base of all CAD software, so the addition of AI to this workhorse package was always going to act as a litmus test for AI acceptance among designers. With that in mind, it was a surprise to see Aura announced so early on in AI’s development. At present, Aura acts as an automate and assist tool, eliminating repetitive tasks and predicting user intent through features like Smart Mates, Fastener Recognition, Command Predictor and Generative Drawings. Where it heads next – and when – remains to be seen, but Solidworks execs plan for Aura to act as an orchestrator, coordinating agents across design, simulation and manufacturing. www.solidworks.com

DEPIX.AI IMAGELAB

Picture this

Depix has evolved from offering AIgenerated backgrounds for renders to promising some of the most jaw-dropping sketch-to-photoreal visuals. Its ImageStudio product does the same for CAD models. Users simply snap a screenshot and drag and drop it onto the canvas, with options to generate mood variants and seasonal looks in seconds. Control comes via a veritable chocolate box of presets, giving them fast options for tweaking image and video content. Once the early concepting stage is over and done with, ImageLab takes on a new role, generating brand stories and marketing content with photorealistic humans observing, modelling or even riding in the product displayed www.depix.ai

DRAFTER DRAFTER SOLIDWORKS INTEGRATION

Between the lines

Any software that eliminates some of the time associated with producing usable 2D drawings is a bonus in our book. With a range of AI-enabled options now available, Drafter is one of the tools most worthy of your attention.

Drafter’s Solidworks integration places the tool at the heart of the action. The plug-in allows users bi-directional sync between Drafter’s automated 2D drawing creation and the 3D SolidWorks model, generating an accurate standardised ASME Y14.5-2018 compliant GD&T drawing. Built on AWS GovCloud, Drafter’s security is tight, leaving users ready to put it to work with confidence.

www.drafterinc.com

FIGUREMENT FIGUREMENT

CMF cloud collaboration

A browser-based rendering platform that is accessible anywhere, Figurement allows for greater project collaboration and less visualisation gatekeeping, helping users move beyond static hand-offs and into a world of real-time iteration. The centralised cloud environment replaces local files, meaning assets and CMF libraries can be shared faster while fresh angles and changes can be viewed almost instantly. Text prompts generate AI backgrounds, surroundings and even users while still in Figurement’s UI, while users maintain control over the hero model, its CMF, as well as sceneviewing angles and composition. The quality of results is excellent, although Figurement’s real strength lies in its accessibility. www.ﬁgurement.com

FINAL AIM FINAL DESIGN

On-target IP

A smart contract tool, Final Design is designed to protect intellectual property (IP) and creative designs from unauthorised use or outright theft – something that all designers need to consider in an age when generative AI can produce hundreds of variations of their creations in a matter of minutes.

AI aside, there are many other IP-related issues that Final Design can tackle, too, all via a commendably simple user experience. Every time the user uploads their data to the platform, a smart contract is triggered to securely log it on the blockchain.

Final Design has been reviewed internationally by various law firms to ensure it holds water in worst-case scenarios. www.ﬁnal-aim.com

HYPERSKETCH IPAD APP

First impressions

In the age of AI, Hypersketch comes closest to providing a whole new approach to the offthe-cuff napkin sketch. Free to download and intuitive to use on the Apple iPad, the tool is capable of transforming a child’s simple doodle into 50 product concepts in a matter of minutes. Imagine what it might be able to achieve in the hands of a professional designer. A nice range of sketch and paint tools can be selected and a remarkable amount of detail and finesse can be achieved by the user. However, the main aim is to support lightning-fast sketch ideation anywhere, anytime, with results that get progressively more fully-formed with a hit of the Brainstorm button.

www.hypersketch.com

HP ZBOOK ULTRA G1A

14-inch powerhouse

We don’t often use ‘14-inch’ and ‘powerhouse’ in the same sentence, but the HP ZBook Ultra G1a changes all that. Powered by the AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro processor with integrated Radeon GPU, this machine packs the kind of punch you’d normally expect from a larger 15- or 17-inch laptop. For product designers, that’s a big deal — it’s the first 14-inch mobile workstation that can genuinely handle GPU-accelerated 3D visualisation workflows in tools such as KeyShot, and not just 2D or 3D CAD. Despite its power, it’s slim, light and impressively efficient, running cool and quiet even during long CPU or GPU renders. This may be a milestone moment for 14-inch mobile workstations. www.hp.com

KEYSHOT

KEYSHOT STUDIO AI

Triple threat

New generative AI rendering tools launch almost each week, so we were eager to see how KeyShot would approach the opportunity. With KeyShot Studio 2025.2, the visualisation expert doesn’t disappoint, debuting its first foray into AI in the form of KeyShot Studio AI, which includes three apps. They are Restyle (promptbased style direction), Imagine (unlimited fast concept generation) and Background (generates new settings and backdrops). All three produce excellent output, but it’s their ability to work locally on the user’s computer that stands out. This makes the technology applicable to far more projects than other tools, so users can take advantage of generative AI even on top-secret projects.

www.keyshot.com

LENOVO LENOVO ACCESS

Remote muscle

Lenovo Access is a new remote workstation solution that delivers full desktop power wherever you’re working. It combines highperformance workstation hardware with easy-to-deploy Blueprints — pre-configured reference architectures that make rollout simple for IT teams and resellers.

Users get the same turbo-charged CPU and GPU performance as a dedicated workstation, but accessed remotely, with no compromise in performance, even for demanding 3D applications. The first Blueprint features seven rack-mounted Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra SFF workstations in a 5U shelf, running Mechdyne’s TGX remote graphics protocol. Robust remote management and security tools keep everything secure and running smoothly. www.lenovo.com

MATOHA PLASTELL

Poly good stuff

Matoha has developed a portable scanner, the PlasTell, which identifies plastics, making it a good fit with reverse engineering projects, competitor product breakdowns, or even just sorting through all your workshop waste bins and old 3D printed models for recycling.

Each scan takes less than one second to perform and no training is required. The device has a simple physical interface where materials are identified to the user and the technology recognises common plastics straight out of the box (PET, PVC, PE, PP, PS, PC, PMMA, PLA, ABS). On request, Matoha’s team is able to add further specialist plastics to the PlasTell’s repertoire. www.matoha.com

MEDIAMAN JESTER3D

Control the narrative

Jester3D might be part of a service offering from digital creative agency Mediaman, but its ability as a visualisation software for building and controlling scenes generated by AI has left us mightily impressed.

Developed in-house to meet the huge demand among Mediaman’s own clients for digital marketing content, Jester3D’s output is perfect for internal ideation or for building social media campaigns.

A library of high-quality 3D assets built by the Mediaman team enables clients to experiment with building scenes around their products. It’s just a question of guiding the AI by adding simple block shapes, positioning cameras, writing prompts and hitting go. www.mediaman.com.cn

NEXCAD.AI

AI CHECKER

Checked off

AI Checker from NexCAD offers intelligent automation for engineering drawing reviews. Initially launched for Autodesk Inventor, readers can expect it to roll out for other CAD packages, too, cutting review times and highlighting costly manufacturing errors so they can be nipped in the bud long before they become major issues.

The platform automatically scans engineering drawings for missing dimensions, tolerance inconsistencies and standards violations, giving engineers instant feedback. Each review builds an internal knowledge base, ensuring consistency and smarter checks. And by allowing AI to handle the repetitive tasks, designers can focus their minds and talents on creativity and problem-solving. www.nexcad.ai

NTOP MATERIALISE MAGICS 2025 INTEGRATION

Making magic

Designing high-complexity, computationally enhanced parts is one thing, but building them is quite another. That’s why nTop’s link-up with 3D printing expert Materialise is a big step forward for users. Making the most of Materialise’s next-gen Build Processors for metals and polymers, nTop implicit geometries can be processed without the need for mesh conversion, drastically reducing prep times. With Materialise’s slicing capabilities, the design and production of parts previously impossible due to huge data and memory requirements are now on the table. Advanced functions such as measurements, wall thickness analysis, nesting and STEP file export make this applicable to CNC machining workflows, too. www.ntop.com

PNY

NVIDIA RTX PRO 2000 BLACKWELL

Small but mighty

The Nvidia RTX Pro 2000 Blackwell GPU offers workstation performance in a compact package. Built for tiny machines like the HP Z2 Mini G1i and Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra SFF, this GPU packs a terrific punch without hogging space, and with a full-height bracket, it also fits inside standard towers.

Optimised for 3D CAD, viz and AI workflows, Nvidia claims this GPU is up to 1.6 times faster for 3D modelling, 1.4 times faster for CAD, and 1.6 times faster for rendering compared to the previous Ada generation.

With 20 GB of GPU memory – 25% more than before – it can load larger datasets entirely on-board, keeping demanding viz and AI workflows running fast and efficiently. www.pny.com

TOOLPATH AUTODESK FUSION INTEGRATION

Magical milling

A seamless integration with Autodesk Fusion’s manufacturing workspace sees Toolpath use AI to help automate timeconsuming tasks such as design-formachinability analysis, quoting and CAM programming.

When a user runs a part through Toolpath, out comes a complete machining plan complete with cost estimates, the optimal number of set-ups and the most effi cient series of toolpath operations, all based on the tools the user has at their disposal. It’s AI-powered productivity done right, allowing businesses to free up the time and talents of machinists for more complex, hands-on work. Autodesk has recently joined other investors in the company, further guaranteeing Toolpath’s development for Fusion in the future. www.toolpath.com

PTC CREO COMPOSITES DESIGN

Stronger stuff

Across the board, Creo 12 does a great job of addressing usability – but it’s in composites design where we see the most impressive advances, with PTC going from zero to potentially best-in-class in little over three releases.

The use of composites is rising in multiple industries, which is why PTC is enthusiastically embracing the trend, but that’s not to say it’s lacking in any of the tools needed in key industries such as aerospace. With geometric processing algorithms specific to composite parts, users can now use Creo to design parts, develop full-fidelity composite lay-ups, and transition them all the way through to manufacturing.

www.ptc.com

PTC ONSHAPE MODEL-BASED DEFINITION

Designer details

New cloud-native model-based definition (MBD) capabilities in Onshape are yet another example of the company’s determination to bulk up its toolset for serious designers. These capabilities enable teams to embed all common product manufacturing information directly into a 3D CAD model, including dimensions, tolerances, annotations, surface finishes and material specifications, and remove the chore of interpreting 2D drawings. The result is that users can work faster, with greater clarity and fewer errors. Since the Onshape toolset is cloud-native, information can be shared around teams using URLs that open directly in browsers, preserving model display settings, section views and annotations. www.onshape.com

SIEMENS SIMCENTER TESTLAB

Testing transformed

AI-assisted workflows promise big things, but Siemens is pushing what can be achieved with AI in terms of accuracy and efficiency in analysis software like its Simcenter Testlab.

AI is credited with making the modal analysis processes in Testlab up to seven times faster, reducing the resources and skills needed to perform accurate physical testing. Automated data capture and processing via the new analysis dashboard streamlines testing workflows, allowing users to test faster, smarter and earlier than before. Testlab works with Simcenter SCADAS hardware to acquire the data. So confident is Siemens that its own software will prove first choice for analysis, it has opened up the platform to export data in universal or third-party formats. www.siemens.com

TOOLKIT3D DESIGN APPS

Best foot forward

Footwear is possibly one of the most exciting sectors in product design right now, and Toolkit3D’s suite of industry-focused apps is a slick package that manages to cover three core elements of footwear design.

There are apps for Insoles, Midsoles, and Design-toMold, with each addressing a critical step in the footwear development process, from scanto-print insoles to profile-driven midsoles and tooling-ready moulds.

For a simple route into custom manufacturing orthotics, or for building out consumer applications for running shoes, Design Apps allow users to turn scans and profiles into ready-toproduce designs at scale. www.toolkit3d.com

AUTODESK SHOWS

» Autodesk’s AI story has matured. While past Autodesk University events focused on promises and prototypes, this year Autodesk showcased live tools, giving customers a clear view of how AI could soon reshape workﬂows across design and engineering, writes Greg Corke

At AU 2025, Autodesk took a significant step forward in its AI journey, extending far beyond the slide-deck ambitions of previous years. During CEO Andrew Anagnost’s keynote, the company unveiled brand-new AI tools in live demonstrations using pre-beta software. It was a calculated risk – particularly in light of recent highprofile hiccups from Meta – but the reasoning was clear: Autodesk wanted to show that it has tangible, functional AI technology that will be available for customers to try soon.

The headline development is Neural CAD, a completely new category of 3D generative AI foundation models that Autodesk says could automate up to 80–90% of routine design tasks, allowing professionals to focus on creative decisions rather than repetitive work. The naming is deliberate, as Autodesk tries to differentiate itself from the raft of generic design-focused AI tools in development.

detailed geometry level and a systems and industrial process level.

Neural CAD marks a big leap forward from Project Bernini, demonstrated at AU 2024. Bernini turned a text, sketch or point cloud ‘prompt’ into a simple mesh not well-suited for further development in CAD. In contrast, neural CAD delivers “high quality, editable” 3D CAD geometry directly inside product development software Fusion or building design software Forma, just like ChatGPT generates text and Midjourney generates pixels.

Autodesk has so far presented two types of neural CAD models: “neural CAD for geometry”, used in Fusion; and “neural CAD for buildings”, used in Forma.

Neural CAD AI models will be deeply integrated into product design workflows through Autodesk Fusion and into BIM workflows through Autodesk Forma and according to company execs will “completely reimagine the traditional software engines that create CAD geometry.”

Autodesk is also making big AI strides in other areas. Autodesk Assistant is evolving beyond its chatbot product support origins into a fully agentic AI assistant capable of automating tasks and delivering insights based on natural language prompts.

NEURAL CAD

Neural CAD marks a fundamental shift in Autodesk’s core CAD and BIM technology. As Anagnost told the press, “The various brains that we’re building will change the way people interact with design systems.”

Unlike general-purpose large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Claude, or AI image generation models like Stable Diffusion and Nano Banana, Neural CAD models are specifically designed for 3D CAD. They are trained on professional design data, enabling them to reason at both a

For Fusion, there are two AI model variants. The first is what Tonya Custis, Autodesk’s senior director of AI research, described as an “auto regressive transformer model”, designed to generate fully editable 3D CAD models from text input. She explained how the model is well-suited to generating organic curved surfaces found commonly within consumer goods and can also be guided by other input types, such as sketches, point clouds and images.

On stage, Mike Haley, senior VP of research, demonstrated how the AI model could be used in Fusion to automatically generate multiple iterations of a new product – in this case, a power drill.

“Just enter the prompts or even a drawing and let the CAD engines start to produce options for you instantly,” he said. “You can literally watch the Neural CAD engine produce the desired geometry as it reasons through the request. Because these are first-class CAD models, you now have a head start in the creation of any new product.”

The AI model can also be used to augment existing designs, Custis explained: “When provided with a set of assembly interfaces in the form of face selections, it can generate multiple parts that precisely preserve the given assembly interface.”

SHOWS ITS AI HAND

But how does the technology work? Custis explained that the AI model generates 3D CAD by learning to break apart and then synthesise faces, edges and the topology of CAD representations. “We represent faces and edges as point grids, and then we uniformly sample points over those grids,” she said.

The second Neural CAD for geometry model is better suited to creating prismatic objects with flat surfaces and clearly defined edges for designs more commonly found in mechanical systems. Custis described this as more of an autocomplete for Fusion – for modifying existing designs and generating editable CAD objects.

Starting with a sketch prompt and geometry constraints, the AI model can recreate the sequence of commands within Fusion, generating objects step by step so the user can inspect the history of commands used to generate the 3D model. “This means you can make edits as if you modelled it yourself,” said Haley.

On stage, he showed how the AI could be used to generate a new handle for a power drill. “We can select the precise attachment geometry which Neural CAD will honour,” he said. “We provide a conceptual sketch, which the AI interprets to produce a matching detailed 3D handle aligned correctly.”

Meanwhile, in the world of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Autodesk is using Neural CAD to extend the capabilities of Forma Building Design to generate BIM elements.

The current aim is to enable architects to “quickly transition” between early design concepts and more detailed building layouts and systems with the software ‘autocompleting’ repetitive aspects of the design.

Instead of geometry, neural CAD for buildings focuses more on the spatial and physical relationships inherent in buildings, as Haley explained.

“This foundation model rapidly discovers alignments and common patterns between the different representations and aspects of building systems. If I was to change the shape of a building, it can instantly recompute all the internal walls,” he said.

“It can instantly recompute all of the columns, the platforms, the cores, the grid lines, everything that makes up the structure of the building. It can help recompute structural drawings.”

THE TRAINING CHALLENGE

Neural CAD models are trained on the typical patterns of how people design. “They’re learning from 3D design, they’re learning from geometry, they’re learning from shapes that people typically create, components that people typically use, patterns that typically occur in buildings,” said Haley.

In developing these AI models, one of the biggest challenges for Autodesk has been the availability of training data. “We don’t have a whole internet source of data like any text or image models, so we have to sort of

● 1 Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost showcases Autodesk Assistant at AU 2025

● 2 Tonya Custis, senior director of AI research at Autodesk, takes the stage

ramp up the science to make up for that,” explained Custis. For training, Autodesk uses a combination of synthetic data and customer data. Synthetic data can be generated in an “endless number of ways”, said Custis, including a “brute force” approach using generative design or simulation.

Customer data is typically used later on in the training process. “Our models are trained on all data we have permission to train on,” said Amy Bunszel, EVP for the AEC industry at Autodesk.

But customer data isn’t always perfect, which is why Autodesk also commissions designers to model things for them, generating what chief scientist Daron Green describes as “gold standard data.”

As he put it: “We want things that are fully constrained, well annotated to a level that a customer wouldn’t [necessarily] do, because they just need to have the task completed sufficiently for them to be able to build it, not for us to be able to train against,” he said.

Of course, it’s still early days for neural CAD and Autodesk plans to improve and expand the models, said Custis. “These are foundation models, so the idea is we train one big model and then we can task-adapt it to different use cases using reinforcement learning and fine tuning.”

In future, customers will be able to customise the neural CAD foundation models, tuning them to their organisation’s proprietary data and processes. This could be sandboxed, so no ‘context window’ data is incorporated into the global training set unless the customer explicitly allows it.

“Your historical data and processes will be something you can use without having to start from scratch again and again, allowing you to fully harness the value locked away in your historical digital data, creating your own unique advantages through models that embody your secret source or your proprietary methods,” said Haley.

AGENTIC AI: AUTODESK ASSISTANT

When Autodesk first launched Autodesk Assistant, it was little more than a natural language chatbot to help users get support for Autodesk products. Now, it’s evolved into what Autodesk describes as an “agentic AI partner” that can automate repetitive tasks and help optimise decisions in real time by combining context with predictions.

Beyond helping drive generative AI through neural CAD, Autodesk Assistant in Fusion will make it easier to invite team members to collaborate on projects or generate visuals using multimodal image generation model, GPT-image-1, bypassing traditional visualisation workflows by placing Fusion designs in context, such as an air fryer in a kitchen.

In the future, Anagnost explained how Autodesk Assistant will even be able to create toolpaths, using natural language prompts such as ‘In Roughing, create a 3D pocket clearing operation using the 8mm Flat Endmill tool from the Milling Tools (metric) Library.’ Autodesk Assistant will also extend to product data management (PDM) software Autodesk Vault, where it will deliver natural language search and follow-on actions, such as updating outdated drawings or pushing Bills of Materials (BoMs) to PLM in Fusion Manage.

So how does Autodesk ensure that Assistant gives accurate answers? Anagnost explained that it takes into account the context that’s inside the application and the context of work that users do.

“If you just dumped Copilot on top of our stuff, the probability that you’re going to get the right answer is just a probability. We add a layer on top of that, that narrows the range of possible answers. We’re building that layer to make sure that the probability of getting what you want isn’t 70%, it’s 99.99 something percent,” he said.

While each Autodesk product will have its own Assistant, the foundation technology has also been built with agent-to-agent communication in mind – the idea being that one Assistant can ‘call’ another Assistant to automate workflows across products and, in some cases, industries.

“It’s designed to do three things: automate the manual, connect the disconnected, and deliver real-time insights, freeing your teams to focus on their highest value work,” said Autodesk CTO Raji Arasu.

In the context of a large hospital construction project, Arasu demonstrated how a general contractor, manufacturer, architect and cost estimator could collaborate more easily through natural language in Autodesk Assistant. She showed how teams across disciplines could share and sync select data between Revit, Inventor and Power Bi, and manage regulatory requirements more efficiently by automating routine compliance tasks. “In the future, Assistant can continuously check compliance in the background. It can turn compliance into a constant safeguard, rather than just a one-time step process,” she said.

Agent-to-agent communication is being enabled by Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), including the Manufacturing Data Model API, which tap into Autodesk’s cloud-based data stores. APIs will provide the access, while Autodesk MCP servers, such as the Autodesk Fusion Data MCP Server, will orchestrate and enable Assistant to act on data in real time.

As MCP is an open standard that lets AI agents securely interact with external tools and data, Autodesk will also make its MCP servers available for third-party agents to call.

All of this will naturally lead to an increase in API calls, which were already up 43% year-on-year even before AI came into the mix. To pay for this, Autodesk is introducing a new usage-based pricing model for customers with product subscriptions, as Arasu explained.

“You can continue to access these select APIs with generous monthly limits, but when usage goes past those limits, additional charges will apply,” she said.

But this has raised understandable concerns among customers about future cost increases and whether these could ultimately limit design iterations.

THE HUMAN IN THE LOOP

Autodesk says it is designing its AI systems to assist and accelerate the creative process, rather than replace it.

Company executives stress that professionals will always make the final decisions, keeping a human firmly in the loop, even in agent-to-agent communications, to ensure accountability and design integrity.

“We are not trying to, nor do we aspire to, create an answer,” said Anagnost. “What we’re aspiring to do is make it easy for the engineer, the architect, the construction professional to evaluate a series of options, to make a call, find an option, and ultimately be the arbiter and person responsible for deciding what the actual final answer is.”

‘‘ This feels like a pivotal moment in Autodesk’s AI journey, as the company moves beyond ambitions and experimentation into AI that is deeply integrated into its core software ’’

● 3 From a simple text prompt, neural CAD generates CAD geometry to use as the starting point for a new product design

● 4 From a simple text prompt to generate an air fryer, Autodesk Assistant in Fusion produces highquality 3D CAD geometry

● 5 In this example of adding a handle to a power drill, starting with a sketch prompt and geometry constraints (left), neural CAD in Fusion augments an existing model with CAD geometry (right)

● 6 CEO Andrew Anagnost shows how Autodesk Assistant in Fusion could be used to create toolpaths using natural language prompts

AI COMPUTATION

It’s no secret that AI requires substantial processing power. Autodesk trains all its AI models in the cloud, and while most inferencing – where the model applies its knowledge to generate real-world results – currently happens in the cloud, some of this work will gradually move to local devices.

This approach not only helps reduce costs (since cloud GPU hours are expensive), but also minimises latency when working with locally cached data.

THE AI-ASSISTED FUTURE

AU 2025 felt like a pivotal moment in Autodesk’s AI journey. The company is now moving beyond ambitions and experimentation into a phase where AI is becoming deeply integrated into its core software.

With the neural CAD and Autodesk Assistant branded functionality, AI will soon be able to generate fully editable CAD geometry, automate repetitive tasks, and gain actionable insights across both product development and AEC workflows.

As Autodesk executives have stressed, this is all being done while keeping humans firmly in the loop, ensuring that professionals remain the final decision-makers and retain accountability for design outcomes.

Importantly, customers do not need to adopt brand new design tools to get on board with Autodesk AI. While neural CAD is being integrated into Fusion and Forma, users of traditional desktop CAD/BIM tools can still benefit through Autodesk Assistant, which will soon be available in Inventor, Revit, Civil 3D, AutoCAD and others.

With Autodesk Assistant, the ability to optimise and automate workflows using natural-language feels like a powerful proposition, but as the technology evolves, the company faces the challenge of educating users on its capabilities – and its limitations.

Meanwhile, data interoperability remains front and centre, with Autodesk routing everything through the cloud and using MCP servers and APIs to enable crossproduct and even cross-discipline workflows.

It’s easy to imagine how agent-to-agent communication might occur within the Autodesk world, but design and manufacturing workflows are fragmented, and it remains to be seen how this will play out with third parties.

Of course, as with other major design software providers, fully embracing AI means fully committing to the cloud, which will be a leap of faith for many firms. Among customers to whom we have spoken, concerns remain about getting locked into the Autodesk ecosystem, as well as the potential for rising costs, particularly related to increased API usage. What the company terms “generous” monthly limits might not seem so generous once the frequency of API calls increase, as it inevitably does in an iterative design process. It would be a real shame if firms end up actively avoiding using these powerful tools due to budgetary constraints.

Above all, AU is sure to have given Autodesk customers a much clearer idea of Autodesk’s long-term vision for AI-assisted design. There’s huge potential for Autodesk Assistant to grow into a true AI agent, while Neural CAD foundation models will continue to evolve, handling greater complexity and blending text, speech and sketch inputs to further slash design times. We’re genuinely excited to see where this goes.

ELEVATE YOUR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING WITH THE MODSIM (MODeling

MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

(MODeling & SIMulation)

APPROACH

The next industrial revolution is here

Combined with technological progress, such as Additive Manufacturing, the MODSIM approach redeﬁnes how products are imagined, designed and delivered. The companies that embrace this shift — uniting design and simulation from the start — will shape the future.

With MODSIM, MODeling and SIMulation converge into a single, intelligent workﬂow. Designers and engineers can explore ideas faster, validate them earlier and create products that perform better — all while reducing time, cost and risk.

Unlock the freedom to innovate without limits.

View the eBook and discover how MODSIM empowers the next generation of product innovation at https://go.3ds.com/ebook

BOLTLESS BEAUTY

» Titanium bike designer J.Laverack has teamed up with Aston Martin and Renishaw to create a bike design that defies tradition and leans on additive technologies to achieve a unique aesthetic

The team at J.Laverack, a UK-based designer and manufacturer of titanium bikes, is passionate about cycling and about how the company’s bikes look, feel and perform.

Every commission is lovingly designed by co-founders Oliver Laverack and David Clow. They obsess over every detail to ensure that each frame is technically and aesthetically perfect.

Many of the company’s creations pay homage to an era when bike races lasted 24 hours or more and when keen cyclists such as Jack Laverack, Oliver’s grandfather for whom the company is named, travelled rough, potholestrewn roads and tracks to discover new places.

As a result, the company’s frames reflect highly detailed exercises in craftsmanship. They are exquisitely built and desirable to cyclists around the world, including Aston Martin chief creative officer Marek Reichmann.

“Our relationship with Aston Martin started when a member of the design team became a customer of ours,” says David Clow. “Because he used the bike to commute, it caught the eye of other Aston Martin team members and planted the seed for a collaboration between the two companies, and we set out to design a high-end, luxury bespoke bike together.”

BOLTLESS BIKE

In a luxury bespoke bicycle, aesthetics are extremely important. The aim with the J.Laverack Aston Martin .1R was to make a visually ‘boltless’ bicycle from a combination of titanium lugs and carbon fibre tubes, with nearly every element tailored to the exact measurements of the rider.

From its made-to-measure handlebars to unique frame sizes, the design defies traditional bike design, allowing for components to be adjusted to accommodate different rider shapes, sizes and physical attributes.

“We started this project from a blank sheet of paper,” explains Laverack. “We wanted to totally rethink bike design to make the most bespoke, beautiful and technologically

advanced bike possible. It would be made-to-measure — to the millimetre — as a series of perfect one-offs.”

During development, the team realised that 3D printing would enable high-performance, geometrically optimised one-off parts. Needing no tooling, metals 3D printing is suited to low volume, customised applications. But since J.Laverack had little experience working with the technology, the company began the search for a development partner that could support and help it with designing and manufacturing the components.

AMAZING AM

J.Laverack reached out to global engineering company Renishaw for support in manufacturing the titanium lugs, brackets, fork dropouts, headtube, rear dropouts, seat tube lug and X-wing. The parts were assembled at Renishaw’s facility in Miskin, UK.

“Working with Renishaw on the additive manufacturing was a no-brainer,” emphasises Clow. “Not only is it a worldrenowned British engineering company, we were impressed by its work on the British Cycling Olympic track bikes.”

According to Joe McMurtry, mechanical engineer at Renishaw, the company got to work on assessing the best way to lay out the individual parts on the build plate, determined the best angle to orientate them and designed supports.

“Because every AM part is different, so too is the approach, and we had to adapt accordingly to achieve the highest quality components. When making the top head tube, we decided to build the part on the plate without supports, adding extra stock to be machined off later to ensure there was no possibility for error when removing the part from the build plate,” he says.

The Renishaw engineers orientated the parts at an angle that eliminated overhangs while being built on its flagship RenAM 500Q system. The geometry meant that there was no need for internal supports and offered further design freedom to make complex geometries and enable the lightweighting of components. This

‘‘ Because every AM part is different, so too is the approach, and we had to adapt to achieve the highest quality components ’’

The J. Laverack Aston Martin .1R is a visually ‘boltless’ bicycle made from titanium lugs and carbon fibre tubes

‘‘

Now we’ve seen the power of what AM can achieve, we’d like to take the learnings and roll out AM to our core product range ’’

included internal lattice structures to reduce weight. The J.Laverack Aston Martin .1R weighs in at just 7.5 kg.

Once the design and support strategy was optimised and simulated for the RenAM 500Q system and 6AI/4V titanium, Renishaw began to print components in 30 micron layers, before applying heat treatment and postprocessing them. Each bike takes over 1,000 hours to create, including over 500 hours of CNC machine time

“We were impressed with Renishaw’s knowledge and support throughout the project,” says Laverack. “The team was able to make recommendations and changes to ensure we ended up with the best possible parts. Now we’ve seen the power of what AM can achieve, we’d like to take the AM learnings and roll the technology out to our core product range.”

The .1R is the world’s first ‘boltless’ bicycle, with no visible bolts, screws or attachments at the headset, seat clamp, callipers or bottle cage. Brake hoses are concealed within the handlebars which is a complex part that uses the same design and manufacturing technique applied to the front splitter of a Formula One car.

The titanium lugs have an exceptional strength-toweight ratio due to the internal lattice structures, which enhance stiffness and torsional stability.

“I think we’ve made the most beautifully designed and engineered bike in the world,” said Oliver Laverack. “It is sleek, stiff, fast, and we have the ability to make it totally bespoke to the individual.”

A masterpiece of British passion for design and engineering, the .1R shows what true collaboration can achieve.

www.jlaverack.co.uk

SPACE BOUND

» With more than 20 critical components inside the QL-1 rocket engine built on 3D printers, engineers at Space Circling Aerospace Technology not only have new opportunities for innovation, but also more time to test out their bright ideas

When it recently passed a 200-second, long-range hot ﬁre test with ﬂying colours, the QiaoLong-1 (QL-1) rocket engine reached yet another milestone in its impressive development. The process began back in 2021 at the Liquid Rocket Engine R&D site operated by Space Circling Aerospace

Technology in Xi’an, China. In under ﬁ ve years, the company has raised over 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) to take its idea from initial concept to a working 85-ton-class rocket engine.

As the primary power source of a rocket engine, the thrust chamber converts the thermal energy of hightemperature, high-pressure combustion gases into kinetic energy to provide propulsion.

In the QL-1 engine, additive manufacturing enables the production of complex internal ﬂow channels within a single build, supporting precise optimisation of propellant pathways and leading to higher combustion eﬃciency and lower energy losses. The result is improved engine

thrust and overall performance.

Other key components, including the

The results of these latest tests provide a clear demonstration of signiﬁcant progress, not just in the company’s design of the QL-1, but also in China’s commercial space propulsion ambitions.

The QL-1’s design eliminates the need for an onboard gas generator, allowing for a slimmer form and for ﬁve of the engines to be mounted into the 3.35-metre diameter space available on Chinese spacecraft.

Smooth ignition, rapid shutdown and stable, high-eﬃciency operation throughout testing strongly suggest that the QL-1 is now fast approaching its next stage of development.

BUILT SMART

More than 20 critical components within the QL-1 engine have been designed to be built using metals 3D printing, including thrust chambers, turbopumps, valves and other key structures.

From the earliest stages of its development, Space Circling’s designers kept in mind that traditional manufacturing methods would involve multiple timeconsuming and costly steps that would in turn hinder them from rapidly iterating on their design. In their place, additive manufacturing methods have allowed the team to integrate parts, streamline production and significantly accelerate the rocket’s development. Bright Laser Technologies (BLT), a Xi’an-based 3D printer manufacturer, has been deeply involved right from the start, with 3D printing technology used to efficiently and precisely manufacture key structures that significantly enhance the engine’s overall performance and reliability.

thrust chamber nozzle extension, gas generator, thrust chamber body and BLT 3D printers. These range from the huge, multilaser BLT-S1000, capable of 1200 x 600 x 1,500mm builds, to the smaller and highly

eﬃcient BLT-S450 system. By using additive methods,

generator, thrust chamber body and oxygen inlet were all built using

‘‘ Smooth ignition, rapid shutdown and stable, high-e ciency operation during testing suggest the QL-1 is now approaching the next stage of development ’’

Space Circling has sidestepped

with fabricating complex internal ﬂ ow channels, including multiple

manufacturing and assembly processes.

many challenges associated and delivers propellant to the combustion chamber, ensuring

The turbopump, which serves as the heart of the QL-1 engine, drives pressurisation

continuous fuel supply. For this,

The turbopump, which serves as the heart

produced, including dual-stage impellers, turbine guide vanes, fuel and oxidiser housings.

multiple critical components were

use parts using additive manufacturing saw months saved in the development process. For example, the two-stage impeller with dimensions of 340 x 340 x 55mm was built on the BLT-S450 in a single, integrated 3D printing process.

With traditional manufacturing methods, the typical production cycle for this kind of part – from material procurement to ﬁnal machining – might be expected

to exceed three months. This was slashed to 45 days, allowing designers to undertake more testing and achieving a cost saving of approximately 75%.

Space Circling now has ambitions to develop its own reusable launchers using its engines, and with progress this fast on the ground, it can only be a matter of time before take-oﬀ is achieved. www.xa-blt.com

MATERIAL WORLD

» With advancements in materials science constantly changing what it’s possible to achieve in product design, we spoke to advanced materials experts at Goodfellow about the emergence of new alloys, compounds and isotopes

Many of today’s most important materials didn’t even exist a decade ago. With designers and product developers increasingly looking to push back boundaries in pursuit of innovation, it’s at the materials level that some of their biggest gains might be made.

Goodfellow is a global supplier of advanced metals and materials, with an inside track on the innovation and insights shaping the future. The company is working closer than ever before with client companies – and specifically their R&D departments, life sciences specialists and engineers – to create solutions that are lighter, kinder on the environment and yet still capable of delivering high performance.

“Many of the technologies that will define the next 20 years, like quantum computing, hypersonic travel and clean energy

1 YTTERBIUM-176 (METALS)

Over the past decade, advancements in isotope enrichment have enabled the high-purity production of Ytterbium-176, a stable isotope with applications in quantum technologies, precision timing and advanced materials research.

Using novel laser-based ‘quantum enrichment’ techniques, enrichment levels approaching 99.75% have been achieved, significantly surpassing traditional methods.

This breakthrough enhances the isotope’s performance in optical lattice clocks, fundamental physics experiments and next-generation sensing systems, marking a major milestone in the commercial availability of specialised isotopes for cutting-edge scientific and technological applications.

breakthroughs, will depend on materials that didn’t even exist a decade ago,” says Goodfellow CEO Simon Kenney.

“What was once science fiction – materials that self-heal, adapt to environmental conditions or conduct electricity better than copper – are now entering real-world applications. And these materials are no longer hidden enablers. They are strategic assets shaping global competitiveness.”

In short, Goodfellow is a company that believes that materials are at the start of every good idea, at the base of every good product and are often the catalyst for fostering new technologies. With that in mind, DEVELOP3D sat down with Adam Sells, one of Goodfellow’s technical experts, to discuss seven materials that could prove to be product design game changers.

www.goodfellow.com

HIGH ENTROPY ALLOYS (ALLOYS)

High Entropy Alloys, or HEAs, are a new class of metallic materials engineered from multiple principal elements and offering exceptional strength, wear resistance and thermal stability.

HEA powders enable tailored performance for advanced applications, in areas such as aerospace, additive manufacturing, energy and healthcare.

Their unique microstructures provide superior fatigue and corrosion resistance compared to conventional alloys, opening new possibilities in extreme environments. Custom formulations and particle sizes are available to suit specialist research and production requirements.

GRAPHENE-ENHANCED PLA (POLYMERS)

4 3 METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS (COMPOUNDS)

Graphene-enhanced PLA combines the processability and environmental benefits of polylactic acid with the exceptional mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of graphene.

This advanced polymer blend delivers increased strength, improved conductivity and enhanced wear resistance compared to standard PLA, while remaining lightweight and easy to process.

Suitable for 3D printing, prototyping and functional parts, it enables researchers and manufacturers to explore innovative designs and applications. Goodfellow supplies this material in a range of forms to support both experimental work and small-scale production.

5 5N PURITY ALUMINA POWDER (SUPALOX) (CERAMICS)

SupALOX is a premium high-purity alumina powder, available in alpha and gamma forms, with purity up to 99.999%.

Manufactured using a sustainable, proprietary process, it offers uniform particle sizes, exceptional chemical resistance and outstanding thermal stability. High dielectric strength and optical clarity make it ideal for electronics, optics, advanced ceramics and catalytic applications.

SupALOX delivers consistent performance for demanding research and industrial environments, with options tailored to specific project needs. This material represents a cutting-edge solution for high-technology manufacturing.

Metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, are crystalline compounds composed of metal ions coordinated to organic ligands, forming highly porous structures with enormous internal surface areas.

Tenable pore sizes and surface chemistries make MOFs exceptionally versatile for gas storage, separation, catalysis, drug delivery and sensing applications. In the past decade, they’ve moved from laboratory curiosity to industrial target, because of their unique performance advantages in the energy, environmental and chemical sectors.

Continued research is unlocking new MOF structures with targeted properties for specialised high-tech applications.

‘‘

What was once science fiction –materials that self-heal, adapt to environmental conditions or conduct electricity better than copper – are now entering real-world applications

Goodfellow CEO Simon Kenney ’’

6 HASTALEX (COMPOSITES)

Hastalex is an advanced graphene-reinforced composite material offering outstanding mechanical performance, durability and environmental resistance.

Developed for demanding engineering applications, it delivers high-tensile strength, excellent impact resistance and superior chemical stability while remaining lightweight.

Graphene reinforcement enhances electrical and thermal conductivity, opening up opportunities in aerospace, automotive, medical and sporting goods.

Various forms of Hastalex are available to support both R&D and production needs, enabling users to explore its potential for high-performance, next-gen product design.

SUPER COOL

» Donkervoort has a reputation for pushing engineering to the limits in its designs, and its upcoming supercar is no exception, featuring parts more associated with Formula 1 than the public highway, as Stephen Holmes learns

Donkervoort is a Dutch company that prides itself on combining low-volume luxury with exceptional performance, a skill that has seen it achieve world acceleration records and leading Nürburgring lap times.

For the company’s upcoming P24 RS model, which promises to oﬀer the marque’s most extreme performance yet, Donkervoort’s 50 specialist staﬀ have been working closely with suppliers to develop

used Dassault Systèmes Catia, before meshing the model to perform in-depth CFD analysis to hone the performance.

KEEPING COOL

high-performing, super-lightweight components and systems.

Creating a custom WCAC solution for Donkervoort followed the same pathway as creating any other heat exchanger design, explains Dijon Valentim, engineering manager at Conﬂ ux. The crucial questions to ask: What’s going into the part and what’s going out? What coolant or media are you feeding into it? What condition do you want those media to be in when they exit?

in-house by

The P24 RS also features the ﬁrst engine developed in-house by Donkervoort, with customer turbochargers built by F1 suppliers Van der Lee. These require a constant supply of the coolest air possible, which is why watercharger air coolers (WCACs) were chosen for the P24 RS. Water is cooled through an external radiator and then redirected to chill the intake air before it enters the combustion chamber. The precision with which this happens enables the consistent, high-

performance delivery expected of a

F1 powertrain.

However, Donkervoort soon

found that no existing design would

ﬁt inside the compact layout of the P24 RS engine bay, so it turned to

Conﬂux, an expert in building heat exchangers using highly optimised 3D

exchangers using highly optimised 3D printed designs.

After consulting with the car’s engineers, who provided the boundary conditions for the needed parts, along with their desirable requirements and attributes, Conﬂux shifted from a single- to a dual-WCAC solution.

To build the 3D CAD models for the package, its inlets, outlets and heat exchanger design, Conﬂux’s designers

This workﬂow was handled by Ansys Fluent, along with tools developed in-house that help reduce simulation turnaround time. In addition, the Conﬂux team leant on its vast libraries of heat exchanger cores that have already benchmarked performance characteristics.

team leant on its vast libraries

“Simulating is one thing, characterising actual performance is another thing – and the correlation between those is really what helps drive eﬃciency and drive eﬃcacy

of solutions,” says

Valentim.

“There are a lot of funky things going on in heat exchanges, a lot of physics

is happening, and to be able to correlate back to your simulation and have a very high conﬁdence level is what helps us to push the envelope further and further.”

Conﬂux’s engineers were able to make changes that ensured the design met

Conﬂux’s engineers were able to make changes that ensured the design met customer performance targets around pressure drop, weight reduction and heat exchange performance.

“Typically, there’s some kind of optimisation between those three levers that we need to read. But in this instance, certainly the key driver was packaging and packaging as a function of that weight save,” explains Valentim.

Conﬂux’s watercharge air coolers for Donkervoort provide sharper throttle response, improved packaging and reduced weight The cooler was modelled by Conﬂux engineers in

● 3 The ﬁnished cooler weighs just 1.4kg, compared to 16kg for a traditional unit

Catia, followed by simulation in Ansys Fluent

A big part of what Conﬂux is able to achieve is due to the company’s understanding of the 3D printing process.

“We are a thin wall specialist,” Valentim explains, adding that the greater the surface area is for cooling, the more eﬀective the heat exchanger will be. In the case of a small device like the Donkervoort WCAC, a unit needs to have ultra-ﬁne geometry.

Much of this was deﬁned by the build accuracy of the 3D printers in Conﬂux’s range of EOS metals systems.

Given Conﬂux’s work for EOS – developing custom heat exchangers for its multi-laser turnkey solutions arm, AMCM – it’s likely that these machines are as customtuned as Donkervoorts’s engines.

Typically, Conﬂux can deliver a gas tight wall a mere 300-microns wide and can create features as tiny as 150 micron-wide cooling ﬁns.

INSIDE KNOWLEDGE

Valentim hints that the end-to-end process leverages a number of unnamed softwares, but the industry recognition of tools like Catia and Ansys Fluent in the automotive space helps it build trust with clients.

The rest of the knowledge and tools that Conﬂux uses are a well-kept secret. The company only shares ‘the box’ with clients, “and not what’s inside,” states Valentim, explaining that the processes and technologies for designing optimised devices and developing ﬁne geometries using AM production methods is so embryonic that protecting this IP – even from close clients – is key.

Once a design has been ﬁnalised, it goes into EOS Build for ﬁnal build processing and smart monitoring. It is then built using AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy, before undergoing an extensive in-house post processing regime, which includes a surface coating to ensure longterm durability and add further corrosion resistance.

In this case, the solution delivered results so effective that Donkervoort’s team was able to downsize the package size even further from their original request, while Conflux’s design added other benefits including better serviceability for maintenance and easier piping from the turbo.

The end result is a pair of aluminium-alloy units weighing just 1.4kg each, compared to 16kg for conventional air-to-air units with similar thermal capacity. This lightweight package of cutting edge engineering only adds to the expectations around the performance of the P24 RS when it is ﬁnally released. One thing’s for sure, though – it’ll be fast.

CHARTING NEW WATERS

» Arc is looking to create a better experience for boaters with its electric powertrain and bold rethink of marine design. The start-up turned to Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio early in its journey to chart a rapid route to success

Building its electric boats from scratch, Arc blends modern design and manufacturing techniques with traditional marine craftsmanship. The result is a new kind of high-performance leisure craft, perfect for both lazy cruising and high-octane trips across the waves.

The company’s battery packs, powertrains, thermal control systems, hulls and software are all developed inhouse. This enables the start-up’s boats to offer a cohesive feel and optimal performance, according to its founders – not to mention some unique features that they claim set it apart from all other watercraft.

Founded in 2021, Arc is based in Los Angeles, California. Its first product, Arc One, sold out its initial production run. Its next-generation Arc Sport, a 500 horsepower all-electric boat designed to create large, powerful wakes for water sports such as wakeboarding, is already generating demand.

With its bow and stern thrusters for precise, joystickcontrolled manoeuvrability, its ability to quickly add or drain over 500kg of ballast to create bigger wakes, and a full lights-and-audio package that enables it to switch

mode from sport to party in an instant, the Arc Sport is an exciting prospect in the fast-growing marine segment.

CHANGING THE SCRIPT

“When we started Arc, we just wanted to create a much better boating experience,” says Arc CTO Ryan Cook. “That starts with an electric powertrain. Traditional gas powertrains don’t do well in marine environments. They aren’t built to remain unused for long periods, they struggle with exposure to corrosive saltwater, and they perform poorly in humid conditions.” Going electric, he says, solves those problems.

Many would-be boatbuilders in this segment take a similar approach to getting started: they choose an engine from one of a handful of suppliers, tweak their hull design and interior, and launch their product, Cook explains.

It’s been that way “for decades and decades”, he says, but Arc has more ambitious plans. “We’re completely changing that script. Half of our staff is on the engineering side. We start from first principles.”

The effort began with the collection of data, taken from hundreds of examples, about how people use their boats and how much time they spend on them. The team at Arc then used its analysis of that data to design its battery pack and drivetrain, with the goal of designing an entire craft that delivers the best customer experience.

But it’s not just about the powertrain, continues Cook. “There are a lot of parameters involved in hull design –deadrise, beam at chine, keel angle, etcetera – so we used NX to parameterise them all.”

Once it had a fully parametric hull model in Siemens Digital Industry’s software, Arc’s design team was able to build one boat, gauge its performance, collect data and tweak a handful of parameters before building a second boat based on what it had learned.

“Fast-forward to today and we’re even more sophisticated, because we know the performance characteristics we want out of the vehicle. With a given centre of gravity and the type of shape we want to go with, we can do it in one shot with NX,” says Cook

NEW TOOLS

Arc adopted the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio to fully design and manufacture its high-performance, fully electric boats.

● 1 The control deck of the Arc Sport is packed with cuttingedge technologies

● 2 Going all-electric avoids problems associated with gas powertrains in marine environments

●

3 The Arc Sport is a versatile, highperformance leisure craft that really catches the eye

“We thought if Siemens Xcelerator is going to be our long-term software, we might as well just start with it, so we don’t have to migrate later,” says Cook.

That investment has meant that Arc’s engineers have access to Siemens Simcenter software to simulate its products. Simulation can be a particular challenge when you’re looking to disrupt an industry that continues to rely primarily on gas-powered propulsion systems and long-established marine engineering principles.

Arc’s focus on all-electric propulsion brings new design, engineering and manufacturing challenges, which is why it depends on Simcenter to optimise the centre of gravity, a challenge due to the craft’s heavy battery pack.

To ensure required performance, the engineering team has also used Simcenter to reduce the weight of the composite hull, deck and hard top, while the team can also carry out smaller-scale part structural, vibration and thermal analyses across the entire boat.

“We’re moving very quickly and it’s a lot of fun to try and apply some fundamental engineering principles to the marine industry and see if we can come up with something better,” adds Cook.

Arc has since added Teamcenter software for Product lifecycle Management during development of the Arc Sport, to improve its product and production data management as the complexity of both its product and supply chain increased.

The experience has set the Arc team up well for its next expansion into the commercial marine industry, with an expanded line of recreational boats including a centre console

all-electric boat that targets fishing and other water activities.

Boasting new elements like a swim deck, bow lounge and a control deck packed with new technology, this versatile craft will add further design and manufacturing challenges as well as data to manage.

With its design and engineering team already decked out for this growing task, reshaping the industry should be plain sailing.

www.arcboats.com

SHIPSHAPE & LIGHTWEIGHT

» If the marine industry is serious about cutting CO2 emissions and securing supply chains, then manufacturing approaches must change. Stephen Holmes learns how the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) is supporting companies in making the shift

Scotland’s River Clyde may enjoy a proud shipbuilding heritage, but it is also a forwardlooking place. Just one mile from its banks, the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) acts as a bridge between academia and industry, opening up new opportunities for manufacturers, not least those from the maritime sector itself.

The NMIS can boast a wide range of established industry partners, all with their own capabilities for R&D, and plays a key role in acting as extra skilled resources for such companies. Typical projects focus on enabling technology collaborations to be established and proven and identifying faster the kinds of innovations that might be deployed internally in order to steal a march on competitors.

As Misael Pimentel, its lead on direct energy deposition, explains: “The teams that we have at NMIS exist to help industry derisk some of the efforts they are putting forward in terms of innovation.”

In one NMIS-supported project – Marine Vessel Lightweighting 2.0 – Glasgow-based Malin Marine Consultants (MMC) have investigated a shift for the marine sector away from traditional manual fabrication, in favour of more automated, flexible and environmentallyfriendly approaches. Other project partners included BAE Systems, Caley Ocean Systems, Siccar, Altair and Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence (HMI).

TARGET PART SELECTION

In general discussions around lightweighting parts and reimagining transportation systems, ships don’t always get much of a look-in – but in the marine business, redesigning components to reduce weight and emissions is a hot topic.

In the Marine Vessel Lightweighting 2.0 project, many potential part options were considered, before the team decided to focus on topology-optimising a tapping ring. This is a metal component that is used to reinforce openings cut into vessel decks and tanks to provide secure access points for personnel. Since most ships have many tapping rings on board, reducing their individual weight could deliver wide-reaching benefits.

According to NMIS mechanical integrity and optimisation lead Gordon Robertson, Altair Inspire was

chosen from a wide range of software available to the team. It was one of the first opportunities to use Inspire, allowing them to simultaneously get to grips with the software, lightweight the tapping ring design and enhance its structural performance.

The design then moved into Hexagon Simufact, where engineers simulated the likely real-time thermal profile of the part as it was being built on NMIS’s direct energy deposition (DED) 3D printer.

This simulation, Robertson explains, “looks at the residual stress profile off the back of that, and what potential distortion you might see, and we tried to marry that up with the physical build in order to validate what the simulation was telling us. It’s good to correlate what the simulation is predicting will happen with what actually happens in the build.”

SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS

The MarLight project delivered a 10% reduction in emissions, cut lead times by 90%, and reduced vessel weight by 13% in testing.

More importantly, the part underwent rigorous hydrostatic and leak testing under sustained pressure, witnessed by experts from maritime classification and professional services organisation Lloyd’s Register who provided independent verification of the tests.

“Whatever we develop in terms of the project itself helps with research, but if we want to have the part deployed in industry, a third-party accreditation body like Lloyds Register is very important, because they are the ones who certify, qualify and say you’re okay to put it into service,” explains Pimentel.

A success for sustainability at sea, the project’s use of large-format additive manufacturing also supports manufacturing efficiency, producing parts locally and on demand and significantly cutting material waste, energy use and emissions when compared with conventional fabrication methods.

With many more parts now identified for optimisation, lightweighting and production using additive approaches, there’s hope of a bright future for optimised marine manufacturing along the River Clyde for years to come. www.nmis.scot

Misael Pimentel, project lead at NMIS, operates a robotic welding arm at the NMIS Digital Factory

10 YEARS OF FORMNEXT

At Formnext, international market leaders present their latest developments all along the process chain in Additive Manufacturing: from high-performance materials and precision system technology to automated post-processing and integrated software and quality assurance solutions.

Experience all around the show floor and on the stages how AM can make your production operations more efficient, flexible, and sustainable. Discover solutions that suit and improve your applications – and don’t miss the chance to engage with the experts and industry pioneers in Frankfurt.

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18 – 21.11.2025

New ways to manufacture products o er designers huge advantages, but many cling instead to tried-and-tested methods. Education is key, writes Stephen Holmes, and class is in session at smart organisations is

Trade show season is here and exhibition halls are packed full of the latest hardware for manufacturing: 3D printers bigger than my car, CNC machines bigger than my ﬂat, and injection moulding machines that need their own postcode.

The latest and greatest equipment holds the power to transform what’s possible – what can be made and the efficiency with which it can be delivered. But pack hundreds of new technologies into a cavernous hall and the sector quickly becomes daunting.

Experienced industry heads often criticise graduate designers making their first steps in employment for not knowing enough about manufacturing processes and workflows, but I’ve been there when those same ruddy-faced gents encounter the cutting edge of manufacturing technology and even their heads start to wobble.

In short, a workshop education dating back 30 years is paltry preparation for the demands of Industry 4.0.

NEW KIT, NEW CHALLENGES

Plenty of companies are investing in new kit, but new kit brings new challenges –hence why we see large manufacturing companies opening future-focused ‘labs’ and forming partnerships with universities and research centres such as the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (see page 48). These companies are doing whatever it takes to de-risk adoption of new technology.

Much of this work involves unshackling the next generation of employees. Young workers bring with them a curiosity and fearlessness that was long ago beaten out of their more senior colleagues.

Granting them freedom to experiment can result in managed failure, but also exciting discoveries. Either way, the company gets new learnings, new intellectual property and new competitive advantage.

Nothing is more fearless, after all, than an infant wiping its sticky paws over the screen of an iPad. Children are drawn to screens like moths. You watch as the pennies continuously drop as they open an app, play a video, or lock you out of your Internet banking service.

Compare this behaviour to that of the same child’s grandmother, who perpetually worries that some important data or service might be erased forever with a misdirected finger-swipe, and you see what I mean. Age can bring caution, even fear.

Freedom, by contrast, is an attribute that manufacturing desperately needs, but manufacturing hardware is often expensive, not simply in terms of acquisition cost, but also the impact of downtime.

AI-enabled software and automation may play their part in keeping things from going wrong, but educating a new generation about manufacturing is going to be key. And, as I’ve previously lamented in this column, the workshops of our Design & Technology classrooms are at risk of disappearing completely.

GETTING EDUCATED

It’s time for the manufacturing industry, as well as the companies that build and sell new machines and software, to begin filling the education gap.

This is a topic I recently discussed with Mark Gray, one of the team behind Universal Robots’ new training centre in Sheffield. This centre is equipped with a full suite of the brand’s cobots (collaborative robots) and anyone, young or old, can try them out and get trained on adding automation to manufacturing workloads.

This approach is informed by the company’s roots in Denmark, where secondary schools are routinely furnished with a cobot and students get to experience the technology at a much earlier age.

Universal Robots offers a two-day course to teach the basics around programming and using its cobots, from desktop pickand-pack units to 16kg payload workhorses.

‘‘

I was once told that if a designer doesn’t understand how something can be made, then they will struggle to create the best possible design. That makes perfect sense to me ’’

This grassroots level is where change can really happen — not only for apprentices, the lifeblood of floor-level manufacturing and engineering, but also for those who already have long careers under their belts, the grannies with iPads in this equation.

A 48-week apprenticeship in manufacturing might be pointless for a designer, but a couple of days here and there to keep abreast of how new technologies function, what they offer and where they fit? That might be priceless.

And it’s not just robotics. How about 48 hours learning about PCB 3D printers, engine-block AM sand cores, boat hull-printing LFAM robots, tiny antennaproducing micro-polymer 3D printers. Or perhaps just a better understanding of what the latest cutting, turning, milling and grinding machines are capable of delivering in 2025?

I was once told that if a designer doesn’t understand how something can be made, then they will struggle to create the best possible design. That makes perfect sense to me.

With manufacturing moving so rapidly and technologies that were once considered to be ‘fringe’ now maturing to become qualified methods of mass production, we all need to be those students who sit up and take notice in class.

GET IN TOUCH: Trade show stands have been awash with drones this year. Stephen can live without another reminder that war often pays the money that advances technology, but let’s all try and at least be original with our UAVs. On Twitter, he’s @swearstoomuch