GrabCAD Now In 3D, Sets Sights On Being The GitHub For Mechanical Engineers | TechCrunch

Whatever you think of Hollywood’s current preoccupation with all things three dimensional, in the world of mechanical engineering, 3D is definitely the way to go. But sharing those CAD-generated renders with clients is more often done Old Skool using print screens, drawings or the dreaded powerpoint presentation. That’s a pretty static way of doing things since those renders can’t be interacted with and the only way to level-up is a full physical model or 3D print out, adding unnecessary expense and friction at various stages of the design process.

Therefore, it seems rather remiss that mechanical engineering community GrabCAD doesn’t support a 3D view.

Until now, that is.

GrabCAD’s new-fangled 3D functionality, which is currently only supported in Firefox and Chrome and is in Beta (like, seriously – see example), brings the startup closer to realising its vision of making it easier for mechanical engineers to collaborate, both amongst themselves by sharing models in an ‘open source’ way and thus reducing duplication, but also with clients by making it infinitely quicker to get feedback.

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A Future Challenge for Infrastructure Informatics | Citizen IBM Blog How can information technology (IT) and data analytics help cities provide better qualities of life for their residents? Can a smarter approach to sustainability serve as a foundation to corporate social responsibility? Carnegie Mellon civil and environmental engineering professor James Garrett comments below on the connections among IT, data analytics, and building a smarter planet. At a recent conference on computing in civil and building engineering, I made the point that the most pressing challenge for infrastructure over the coming years will be to determine more effective approaches to spending the least amount of money to deliver the highest quality services. Consistent with IBM’s Smarter Planet vision, I see a huge role for information technology (IT) in addressing this challenge. We need to move to a model where the delivery, maintenance and management of roads, buildings, bridges, pipelines and other infrastructure is highly predictive and proactive, and where information is relatively cheapto collect.

A Future Challenge for Infrastructure Informatics | Citizen IBM Blog

How can information technology (IT) and data analytics help cities provide better qualities of life for their residents? Can a smarter approach to sustainability serve as a foundation to corporate social responsibility? Carnegie Mellon civil and environmental engineering professor James Garrett comments below on the connections among IT, data analytics, and building a smarter planet.

At a recent conference on computing in civil and building engineering, I made the point that the most pressing challenge for infrastructure over the coming years will be to determine more effective approaches to spending the least amount of money to deliver the highest quality services.

Consistent with IBM’s Smarter Planet vision, I see a huge role for information technology (IT) in addressing this challenge. We need to move to a model where the delivery, maintenance and management of roads, buildings, bridges, pipelines and other infrastructure is highly predictive and proactive, and where information is relatively cheap
to collect.

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Smallest Electrical Motor Now Just a Nanometer Wide | CNET

Way back in the early days of 2011, the world’s smallest electric motor was so…big. At 200 nanometers wide, it was a whopping 1/300th the size of a human hair.

Now, chemists at Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences have smashed that record, which was set in 2005, with this weekend’s unveiling of their single-molecule electric motor, which at 1 nanometer wide could be the first in an entirely new class of devices with potential use in medicine and engineering.

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Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclearA surprising aerodynamic innovation in wind turbine design called the ‘wind lens’ could triple the output of a typical wind turbine, making it less costly than nuclear power. via mothernaturenetwork:

Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclear
A surprising aerodynamic innovation in wind turbine design called the ‘wind lens’ could triple the output of a typical wind turbine, making it less costly than nuclear power.

via mothernaturenetwork:

(via electricpower)

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Applied Sciences NYC at NY Tech Meetup

At last night’s NY Tech Meetup, NYC Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Steel and NYCEDC President Seth Pinsky presented about Applied Sciences NYC—a game-changer for NYC’s economy, to build or expand a world-class applied sciences and engineering campus in the City. Watch the presentation above. Like what you hear? Like us at facebook.com/AppSciNYC.

via nycedc:

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IBM tells story of the Chevy Volt’s complex engineering The Chevrolet Volt is a prime example of the need for unified methods to address the complexity and software content in embedded system design, according to Meg Selfe, vice president for complex and embedded systems at IBM Rational. Selfe’s keynote speech at the Embedded Systems Conference focused on the design and engineering behind Chevy’s breakthrough plug-in vehicle. According to EE Times, Selfe talked of IBM’s role in helping streamline General Motors’ design process. Due to this streamlining, the Volt went from a showy concept to a production vehicle in just 29 months, compared to the 60-month design cycle of most automobiles. As Selfe stated: They focused on time to market, and they had to because it was a life or death moment for them. They were in a near-death experience, so they brought together their best thousand engineers. They were changing the way in which they did engineering. Specifically, GM streamlined the Volt engineering team’s tools and processes and, according to Selfe, “it was like a battle of the tools.” In the end, says Selfe, The General “put more of the design in-house,” which was a risk that paid off. Source: Autoblog

IBM tells story of the Chevy Volt’s complex engineering

The Chevrolet Volt is a prime example of the need for unified methods to address the complexity and software content in embedded system design, according to Meg Selfe, vice president for complex and embedded systems at IBM Rational. Selfe’s keynote speech at the Embedded Systems Conference focused on the design and engineering behind Chevy’s breakthrough plug-in vehicle.

According to EE Times, Selfe talked of IBM’s role in helping streamline General Motors’ design process. Due to this streamlining, the Volt went from a showy concept to a production vehicle in just 29 months, compared to the 60-month design cycle of most automobiles. As Selfe stated:

They focused on time to market, and they had to because it was a life or death moment for them. They were in a near-death experience, so they brought together their best thousand engineers. They were changing the way in which they did engineering.

Specifically, GM streamlined the Volt engineering team’s tools and processes and, according to Selfe, “it was like a battle of the tools.” In the end, says Selfe, The General “put more of the design in-house,” which was a risk that paid off.

Source: Autoblog

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Overview of Complex Systems | New England Complex Systems Institute Complex systems science is a new field of science studying how parts of a system give rise to its collective behaviors, as well as how the system interacts with its environment. Social systems formed by people, the brain formed by neurons, molecules formed by atoms, the weather formed by air flows— these are all examples of complex systems. By using mathematics to focus on pattern formation, and the question of parts, wholes and relationships, the field of complex systems cuts across all the disciplines of science, as well as engineering, management, and medicine.

Overview of Complex Systems | New England Complex Systems Institute Complex systems science is a new field of science studying how parts of a system give rise to its collective behaviors, as well as how the system interacts with its environment. Social systems formed by people, the brain formed by neurons, molecules formed by atoms, the weather formed by air flows— these are all examples of complex systems. By using mathematics to focus on pattern formation, and the question of parts, wholes and relationships, the field of complex systems cuts across all the disciplines of science, as well as engineering, management, and medicine.

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