Assisted Design Tools

The aided design tools are a set of tools that enable computer-aided design. It is common to use the acronym CAD, from English Computer Aided Design, to designate the set of software tools oriented fundamentally, but not exclusively, to design (CAD), manufacturing (CAM) and computer-aided analysis (CAE) in scientific and industrial fields.

History

Initially, these programs were limited to small applications focused on two-dimensional technical drawing that came to replace the traditional drawing board, since it offered advantages for the reproduction and conservation of plans and reduced drawing time, also allowing use repetitive elements and expedite changes. It could be compared to the advantages of the first word processors compared to the typewriter.

Its beginnings were slowed down because it was intended for a very small group of users and also required very powerful hardware. Not to mention the resistance of many professionals to adopt these technologies. But their potential, the increase in hardware power and the importance of the companies that used them (among which the automotive industry has stood out) allowed these tools to gradually reach three dimensions and include complex curves, surfaces and finally solid. Up to the complex associative and parametric systems that make it possible to carry out the entire design of a car or an airplane, submit them to crash tests, temperatures, etc., carry out all the marketing infographics, make prototypes and, of course, manufacture them, programming and controlling the machines that manufacture them and then checking the results obtained. All this in times unthinkable twenty years ago.

News

Currently these systems are connected to the management and production systems in such a way that from the design phase it is possible to know the cost of the final product, control the stocks of components and materials for its manufacture and, finally, everything what one can imagine.

We have gone from having a representation of a plane on the screen to having a virtual model from which we can obtain data, mount it on other models, make it adaptive, print it, manufacture it. The next step were the so-called expert systems that allow the collection of rules and norms so that the system guides the user in decision-making. And now the aim is to collect the knowledge and experience of the user and for the system to learn, taking into account aesthetics, engineering, manufacturing and quality.

Evolution

The evolution of these systems has allowed impressive advances in the industry, from which today everything from satellites to domestic blenders benefit.

The importance of the companies that used them (among which the automotive industry has stood out) allowed these tools to gradually reach three dimensions and include complex curves, surfaces and, finally, solids. Up to the complex associative and parametric systems that make it possible to carry out the entire design of a car or an airplane, submit them to crash tests, temperatures, etc., carry out all the marketing infographics, make prototypes and, of course, manufacture them, programming and controlling the machines that manufacture them and then checking the results obtained. All this in times unthinkable twenty years ago.