The manufacturing industry has an urgent need for efficiency, accuracy and reliability. These needs have pushed manufacturers to embrace technologies like computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), but artificial intelligence (AI) can improve them. Implementing AI in 3D modeling can unlock these technologies' full potential.
CAD involves using computers to help create, analyze and modify digital designs before making a product. CAM then uses these models to control manufacturing processes and machines to deliver end products that meet the design's specifications. Both innovations have brought substantial benefits to the manufacturing industry, but they can do more with AI.
Here's how AI is improving CAD and CAM processes in modern manufacturing.
Increased Productivity
The first and most significant way AI improves 3D modeling is by making the process more efficient. Some CAD solutions now include AI design assistants that predict what the user is likely to do next. These tools analyze how people tend to handle designs, then use that information to suggest next steps or automatically add changes.
Some AI design assistants use as many as 15 million CAD sketches as their base dataset to influence their predictions. They can make remarkably accurate predictions with that much information. This improves productivity in the design process by letting users add multiple elements with a single button press instead of drawing them manually.
These AI assistants can go further to automate design choices, too. For example, AI can look at how elements were applied in past designs to align geometries and automatically apply them to new creations. Traditionally, this process would require slow, careful adjustments to ensure everything lines up correctly, but AI can do it in mere seconds.
These features let engineers create new designs in far less time. They can then focus on other tasks or increase their output, and manufacturers can shorten new products‘ time to market.
Optimized Design Choices
Similarly, AI features in CAD software can make suggestions to improve 3D model designs. AI algorithms can analyze past creations and various physics considerations to determine how different choices influence results. They can then help engineers create more effective, affordable or resilient designs.
This may look like an AI assistant in simpler systems, suggesting that engineers choose a different shape or material to support the intended weight. Some solutions can go further than that, automating almost all the design processes. Systems can form a recommended shape based on users' preset parameters.
These suggestions and automated designs will further improve efficiency and create better end products. Since AI is typically better than humans at making connections between data points, it may find flaws or opportunities human engineers miss. Manufacturers can then design and produce optimized products, potentially increasing sales and preventing recalls.
Novel Designs
AI in 3D modeling can go a step further by creating entirely new, unique designs. With enough data at their disposal, AI systems could generate new shapes and configurations that offer advantages over what engineers use today. Product innovation would accelerate as a result.
New CAM technologies provide the flexibility to create novel structures and designs. For example, 3D printing has made stretchable electronics a reality, opening the door to a vast range of new product designs and functions. AI can take advantage of these opportunities to create innovative, unique models that human engineers wouldn't have imagined.
AI can analyze where previous designs fall short and assess 3D printers' near-limitless range of motion to find new solutions to persistent problems. They could then reveal how manufacturers can rethink product designs to address these issues. After AI in CAD designs these models, AI programs could guide CAM systems to create them with minimal errors.
Decreased Waste
Implementing AI in CAD and CAM processes will also decrease waste. AI-assisted CAD models can account for production processes, creating designs that will produce less refuse when machined. Other AI solutions can then take these models and guide CAM systems to machine these designs in the most efficient, least wasteful way possible.
Letting machines handle manufacturing processes instead of humans already reduces waste. Automation can achieve levels of consistency that would be impossible for a human, and AI can take this even further. As these systems produce more parts, AI algorithms can notice areas to improve and adjust the machining process accordingly.
Similarly, if a mistake does arise, AI systems can notice and respond to it in real-time. They can then produce a usable product despite early mistakes or poor-quality materials, where a traditional system would've created a defect. AI in CAM reduces overall waste by cutting down on the number of problems.
Ongoing Improvements
As in other industrial processes, AI in 3D modeling can enable ongoing improvements. The more facilities use these tools, the more data these systems can learn from. Over time, they'll recognize patterns of successes and failures and suggest changes to expand the former and minimize the latter.
Using AI in both CAD and CAM can combine the design and manufacturing processes, paving the way for operational improvements. Data from both sides will reveal how the production side can adapt to better serve the designs engineers want to produce. AI can recognize these areas of improvement and tailor them as new factors emerge.
Similarly, AI on the CAD side can adjust design recommendations to fit CAM systems' capabilities better. Since these predictions grow more accurate with more data, AI will provide more value to manufacturers the longer they use them. After a few years, 3D modeling and production processes will be far more efficient and accurate than they started.
AI Is the Future of 3D Modeling
AI in 3D modeling is still a relatively new practice. Despite its novelty, the technology is already growing across CAD and CAM software solutions. As more companies realize its benefits, more systems will offer it. It will likely become the industry standard before long.
CAD and CAM technologies have become as popular as they are for their efficiency, accuracy and reliability. AI can improve on each of these benefits, pushing results higher than previously possible. These improvements could change the industry for the better.
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