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We’re doomed. The robot armies are massing. As if simple non-humanoid robots were bad enough, now tiny, toddler-like and highly functional robot are coming to the market very, very soon people. Start packing.
Aldebaran Robotics is bringing on the dream that many have of a personal robot companion to romp around with and they just so happen to be using SolidWorks to design Nao, the two-legged, wi-fi totting mechbot with swappable heads. *shiver*
Continue reading ‘Nao Humanoid Robot Designed in SolidWorks: Farewell Human Race’
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I’m lovin’ me some algorithms. I’ve actually become so interested in them it’s affected my posting frequency and I’m starting to see domino-like creatures forming beautiful patterns in my numerically challenged nightmares.
An algorithmic approach to design. Boring huh? Well, the results these patterns of numerical data create are the most amazingly fluid and kinetically pleasing designs you’ll feast your eyes upon.
Continue reading ‘Amazing Algorithms: 3D Visualization and Kinetic Design’
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“That storefront looks spectacular. I’m tellin’ ya, it looks like it’s sizzlin’ right up from THE GROUND.” Yes, the colors are mesmerizing your eye holes and you grasp for word to explain how structures can seemingly float curvaceously in front of you.
Steel, screws and a little SolidWorks magic, I say, and Feature Factory has got loads of magical magic-ness - by which I mean, they’ve got some engineers, designers and fabbers that know a thing or two about creating fine architectural features using parametric modeling.
Continue reading ‘Feature Factory: Product Design and Architecture in SolidWorks’
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It’s absolutely insane, I tell you. How are you suppose to get a good nights sleep when your brain is obsessing about the intricacies of how to model inventive new products?
I wonder what it is that makes us bring our 3D models into our nightmares dreams. Is it the challenge? the hours? subliminal messages in the software? EVIL mice using radiating surface features to manipulate our brainwaves. hmmm…the dreams are now affecting my sanity.
This happens from time to time for me. It’s usually when I’m very involved with how I’m creating a design in SolidWorks or when I’ve been looking into the depths of the design for hours. What’s cool are the dreams where I feel like I’m floating around the model. Ok, I’m getting a little personal about my possible psychosis. Hit the comments and make me feel not so alone in my 3D altered reality. bless you.
Image Credit: BabyGene.net
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Feast your eyes upon this odd lookin’ chair. Some products you can just look at and know it was designed with SolidWorks. The The Dreeben Billet Chair is one of those. It’s as if you are looking right at the model and recognize the features used to create it.
Micheal Dreeben is the designer and was recently one of the winners of the Design Within Reach M+d+F show for his Chaise style version of this fine chair. Much more comfy lookin’ don’t ya think?
The Billet Chair was designed a few years ago with the aid of Todd Courtois, an independent designer and engineer. Micheal Dreeben himself is an independent furniture designer.
The Ponoko Blog has an excerpt from a recent interview with Dreeben about the design process from sketches and prototypes to CAD and CNC. It’s a must read, if you are interested about the dynamic life of independent design and what materials are used to make it happen.
Continue reading ‘Michael Dreeben Billet Chair Designed in SolidWorks’
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I’m telling ya people, robots are taking over the world and SolidWorks is doing their part to aid in the onslaught of automated fulfillment like you wouldn’t believe. SHOES. The robots are in control of our footwear and it’s all starting at Zappos, perhaps the most brilliant shoe store you’ll ever find.
Kiva Systems has just done a full-up implementation of their ItemFetch robot army system, just four months after Zappos made the decision to have the tiny orange robots automate orders at their Kentucky plant.
Continue reading ‘Robots Designed in SolidWorks Will Send You Shoes’
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Despite the fact that it looks like a very large, very colorful, yet well designed, doily, this is one of the winners of the lucrative 2008 Red Dot Design Award. This year alone 3,203 designs were entered ranging from textiles, like this fancy rug, to technology and just about anything else that spans product, conceptual and communications design.
MohoDesign from Poland is the outfit behind these unique rug designs, and yes, they are made from 100% pure wool pile.
Making a rug in SolidWorks.You gotta be kidding.
I know, a futuristic electro-mechanical trap floor with automated balance control and sensory absorption relays would be much cooler, but what I found interesting about these rug designs in particular, is how simple the idea is and how easy (and fun) it can be to create something like it in SolidWorks. Want to know how to do it?
Continue reading ‘Inspired to Design: Could You Create A Rug Like This in SolidWorks?’
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Designing a door seems like the simplest thing you could attempt right? A panel, some holes, and a bit of glass. Contemporary door design makes it even easier with all the straight lines. These doors from Swedish designer Snickarper caught my attention though.
It’s not so much the style, but the way the elements are located and how simple it would be to create really unique door designs quickly in a parametric 3D modeling program like SolidWorks.
Continue reading ‘Product Design: Could You Design A Door?’
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What incredibly functional complex designs could you possibly think up if you only had fabric, sheet metal or wood to work with? More than you could do carpet scraps and hot glue I imagine.
Design can be interesting, but it gets downright inspiring when you see common flat panel materials used in different areas you would never imagine. Here’s three absolutely amazing design ideas that use materials that start flat and proceed to make your mouth gape open.
Continue reading ‘From Flat to Cool: Three New Twist on Product Design’
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SolidSmack has been around for just over a year and I’m lovin’ every bit of every juicy 3D/Tech/Design/SolidWorks Tip post I put up, but last night in the wee hours of a foggy night I wondered, “What the heck do all the wonderful people that visit SolidSmack like (not like) about the site?”
So, the fate of SolidSmack lies in the click of your mouse button, any comments you want to add, and my ability to totally ignore anything bad you say about me or the site.
I hope you have fun and I hope you provide some really detailed ideas or offer me money to stop blogging and finish my home renovation. Oh, I’ll still be your friend even if you say something mean. 
What would you like to see on SolidSmack?
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