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Generative design is one of the key new trends in the development of industrial products. 2050.LAB experts reveal the secret of this trend’s popularity
1. Wide choice
The essence of Generative Design technology is that an industrial designer or engineer loads technical requirements and project parameters into the program, and the computer processes the information received and generates hundreds of solutions. A person, by virtue of his physical capabilities, is simply not capable of such a thing. At the same time, the algorithm does not operate with fundamentally new ideas. He offers the best options based on what has already been invented by man. Of these, the designer or engineer must choose the best.
2. Saving time and effort
“With the help of Generative Design, we can say “no” to routine,” emphasizes Maxim Chashchin, director of the 2050.LAB design studio. Chief designer Alexey Sharshakov agrees with him. According to him, the use of new technologies shifts the focus in work. The role of a designer or an engineer is changing: he is thinking more and more not about the task itself, but about how to put it in front of the machine.
According to Sharshakov, technology will not replace human labor or intelligence. The computer only allows you to sort through the many options “on the shore.” There is no need to manufacture a part, load it, spend a lot of materials, effort and time on it. “The element of creativity remains on the side of the person,” adds Chashchin. And there is more time for it.
3. Rapprochement of engineers and designers
The main role of Generative Design is to combine the creative work of designers and the more practical approach of engineers to create a quality industrial product.
Previously, designers thought about the quality of the product, trying to give the consumer aesthetics and emotions. Sometimes, proposals were put forward that are difficult to implement in practice. Engineers, on the other hand, have always thought about how to create a perfectly working object, but they have not always fully understood why emotions are needed. Thanks to the new technology, it became possible to bring positions closer, to join forces in creating a perfectly working product with new aesthetic qualities.
Generative design provides an opportunity for the exchange of ideas, the choice of optimal solutions. Thanks to cloud technologies, professions are united: engineers become more creative, they have a tool for effective collaboration with colleagues who, in modern conditions, can be hundreds of kilometers away from them.
4. New technologies = new qualities
Generative Design technology is inextricably linked with additive technologies, 3D printing, and this type of production is also developing quite rapidly now. An additional incentive was the new living conditions, when in 2020 the borders between the states grew again, and the links between the production of components and assembly located in different countries lost their former fortress.
If a few years ago the quality of products created using layer-by-layer growth left much to be desired, today 3D printing is becoming a mass production method. Additive technologies are used in the production of high-tech products, parts that must withstand heavy loads. To go further, new technologies are needed to design next-generation structures: light, strong, reliable. And Generative Design is good for that.
The creation of new materials will accelerate the development of industries that use new technologies. NUST MISIS Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation Mikhail Filonov noted at a round table summing up the results of the All-Russian Generative Design Competition organized by 2050.LAB that the university is actively developing the field of digital materials science. Students do not just learn to synthesize new materials, to come up with their formulas. First of all, they learn design thinking, which helps them find often unusual, but effective solutions to even complex problems.
5. Beauty and practicality
Details and assemblies created using generative gesign technology are easily recognizable by their appearance. Most of them are quite futuristic in shape and look unusual. In addition, the new technology makes it possible to make parts stronger, but, as a rule, less material is consumed for their manufacture than when using traditional production technologies.
World expansion
Increasing the speed and efficiency of the work of designers and industry thanks to Generative Design will lead to the fact that the technology will quickly gain supporters, 2050.LAB experts are sure. According to Market Data Forecast, the global generative design market will grow to $2025 million by 315, which means that the annual growth will be about 20%.
Generative design is actively developing in science-intensive and complex industries. According to Pavel Medvedev, “evangelist” of Autodesk Fusion 360, one of the generative design tools, a number of practical cases of Generative Design are related to transport in the broadest sense of the word. For example, Decathlon recently introduced a bicycle whose frame is custom-fitted to the user using 3D printing.
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