FoDES - Future of Design & Engineering Software
We discuss tools and technology that engineers will find interesting and useful. This can be software, hardware or a service.
Episodes
23 episodes
Matt Mcelvogue, VP at Teague on Human-Centered Design
Matt McElvogue, VP at Teague, talks about Teague's human-centered design. We explore how building early aligns design, engineering, and business, and why full-scale prototypes beat slide decks. From accessible aircraft cabins to friendlier auto...
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47:31
Nineteen Year Old Parth Mehta Reinvents CAD with AI
We talk with Makistry founder Parth Meta about turning plain English prompts into parametric CAD and why a structured AI “brainstorm” can speed design without losing engineering control. We dig into standards-aware reasoning, exports, limitatio...
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42:51
Rand Simulation: Democratization is Fine — Up to a Point
We trace how focused simulation wins over all-in-one platforms, then try to find out more about the design of an Olympic helmet — with no luck. Rand Simulation experts use LS-DYNA and validate the results to cut risk and time. We close wi...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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50:00
Amit Shastri, CTO Americas, Digitate, on AI Agents to Handle Outages, More
Amit Shastri, CTO Americas at Digitate, explains how composite AI moves operations from reactive firefighting to predictive and autonomous action, without sidelining human judgment or ripping out trusted systems. Digitate’s approach blends logi...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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50:38
Looq AI Makes Photogrammetry Work
We talk with Lukas Fraser, VP of Product at Looq AI, about a camera-first platform that delivers survey-grade 3D models and automates utility workflows. We cover hardware design, accuracy claims, pole and cable analysis (for power lines), and w...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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34:54
Tudor Vasiliu: AI For Architects, from Prompt to Art
We talk to Tudor Vasiliu, founder and director of Panoptikon, about how architects use AI to elevate visualization without losing control, unpacking “AI passes,” professional guardrails, and why speed still needs expertise. A live demo shows ra...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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1:16:10
Theopile Allard, CTO of Neural Concept, Wants to Free the Engineer
We talk with CTO and co-founder Theopile Allard about Neural Concept’s AI copilot for engineering and how option-driven workflows change speed, creativity, and trust in simulation-heavy design. We explore physics prediction, geometry generation...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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32:57
Arjun and Kanal Jain, Building Tandem, an AI-based Knowledge Layer for Mechanical Engineers
We talk with Arjun and Kanal Jain, co-founders of Tandem about building an AI knowledge layer that captures design decisions, links requirements to CAD, and helps engineers spend more time designing. We compare text-to-CAD promises to enterpris...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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26:33
Antony Samuel - Artifact for Drag and Drop Electrical System Design
We explore how complex electrical systems can be designed faster and with more confidence by combining an intuitive canvas with deep electrical intelligence and pragmatic AI. Anthony Samuel shares lessons from aerospace startups, Y Combinator a...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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30:32
Patrick Wallis and Marc Goldman about Esri, AI and Gaussian Splats
We explore how GIS connects BIM, CAD, and reality capture into usable context for design, construction, and operations. Gaussian splatting takes center stage as Patrick Wallace explains how it preserves fine detail and enables point clouds, mes...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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37:42
Tassos Hadjicocolis, CEO of Phenometry on Phi which Models Organic Shapes
Tassos Hadjicocolis, CEO of Phenometry, and Stephanos Androutsellis-Theotokis, CTO and founder, give a detailed demo of Phi, a browser-based modeler that makes organic shapes quickly and precisely, then sends results to Onshape as clean NURBS f...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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55:40
Owein Dourneau, CEO of MecAgent, Converts Natural Language to SolidWorks
We dive into why CAD feels hard and how natural-language automation can remove friction without forcing a platform switch. Co-founder and CEO Owen Dourneau explains MecAgent’s approach to compiling plain English into SolidWorks actions, the lim...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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33:16
Russ Bukowski, CEO of Mastercam’s and the Bold Bet On AI and Acquisitions
We talk with Mastercam CEO Russ Bukowski about how AI, vertical integration are reshaping CAM. From voice‑enabled Copilot to reseller acquisitions under Sandvik, Russ lays out a roadmap for faster programming, safer code, and a tighter art‑to‑p...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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31:39
Shiva Dhawan, Attentive.ai, and Creating takeoffs from PDFs
SPONSORED EPISODEShiva Dhawan, CEO & Co-Founder at Attentive.ai shares his journey from mechanical engineering to building an AI-based takeoff software for construction, and explains why manual takeoffs from PDFs remain one o...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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21:54
Al Eliasen, CEO of SBS, Has an AutoCAD Add-On for Utility Design
We explore how 3D utility-centric design on top of AutoCAD speeds grid and fiber projects by connecting CAD, GIS, and SAP by enforcing standards that prevent costly errors with Al Eliasen of SBS. We also dig into pragmatic AI uses that sh...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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22:35
Michael Bogomolny, CEO of InfinitFORM
We sit down with Michael Bogomolny, Ph.D. of InfinitFORM, which has blasted through the hype of topology optimizatio...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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32:10
Uzair Sayid of NexCAD - AI Catches Your Drawing Mistakes
We sit down with Uzair Sayid, founder of NextCad AI, to explore how automated drawing checks cut busywork, reduce errors, and capture expert standards without slowing design. The conversation tracks his journey from frustrated mechanical engine...
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29:52
Gustavo Navarro, Founder of Divergence AI - AI Copilots For RF Engineers
We explore how an AI copilot layers on top of HFSS to automate RF simulations without losing rigor or control. Gustavo Navarro shares a live demo, a practical roadmap from post‑processing to pre‑processing, and a vision for cross‑domain orchest...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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32:57
DraftAId, by Mohammed Al-arnawoot
We explore how DraftAId automates mechanical drawings from 3D models, why focus beats hype in CAD AI, and how human-in-the-loop design keeps engineers in control. A live demo shows associative drawings in Inventor, and we preview cost estimatio...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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28:34
Brad Rothenberg: nTop Removes CAD's Limits
We sit down with Brad Rothenberg of nTop to explore how implicit modeling and signed distance fields make computer models that are robust, physics-aware and ready for fast iteration. From aircraft wings to heat exchangers and turbine cooling, w...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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35:17
Budapest or Global? Istvan Knows No Boundaries
Shape3D demonstrated how CAD can feel as natural as drawing with a pencil on paper, while still handling complex product design with an iPad and the Apple Pencil. Shapr3D’s founder, István Csanády, has taken the company from its Apple roots to ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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30:48
Mai Bui, Building a Design Wiki
"Why do hardware teams still rely on brittle slides and spreadsheets?" asks Mai Bui, cofounder of Quarter20. "A CAD‑connected wiki can turn documentation into living, executable knowledge."Quarter20 shows auto-updating work instructions,...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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29:04
The AI Revolution in Mechanical Design is Happening
Maorr Farid, co-founder and CEO of Leo AI, shares how his company is revolutionizing mechanical engineering by creating the first AI that truly understands CAD. His mission is to transform engineers from "glorified secretaries" back into creati...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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38:43