Yesterday, at the Fab 11 conference held at MIT, Rick Rundell, Senior Director, Technology and Innovation Strategist at Autodesk, made an interesting announcement: Autodesk is now a Fab Sponsor! They are teaming up to make Autodesk’s cloud and mobile software available to all 500+ Fab Labs and their members around the world.
“Autodesk and Fab Lab share a vision about the important role digital fabrication plays in the future of making things. Digital fabrication is opening new possibilities for makers and manufacturers alike to create a new generation of better, more personalized, connected products. And the Fab Lab community is proving this again and again around the world,” according to Samir Hanna, vice president and general manager of Autodesk Consumer & Group. “Digital fabrication can’t happen without digital design tools first, and we want the Fab Lab community to have great cloud and mobile design software in the world to help solve design challenges and bring their ideas to life.”
As of yesterday, Autodesk is giving Fab Lab members access and training to the following software:
- Tinkercad – A really easy-to-use, web-based 3D modeling software that allows users to 3D print with ease.
- 123D Circuits – An awesome software that lets you test Arduino electronics projects, design PCB boards, and perform real-time simulations.
- Fusion 360 – A very intuitive CAD/CAM program which leverages the cloud to power a CAD/CAM/CAE to speed up design iteration and perfect your 3D prints.
Adding this software to the Fab Lab inventory list and into the Fab Academy curriculum will mean a lot of members will not only have access to this great software, but they will have access to a cool onsite workshop onsite at Fab 11. Attending Fab Lab members will learn how to get up and running on the free Autodesk software and learn how to 3D scan a limb, design a prosthetic, and make it robotic.
As a result of the sponsorship, Fab Lab members will also receive a 10% discount on the new Arduino Basic Kit being sold by Autodesk available at www.autodesk.com/arduino for $84.00. Announced at the the White House National Week of Making, the Arduino Basic kit includes:
- Physical and digital components to create and build simple projects using Arduino and Autodesk 123D Circuits.
- Exclusive access to 15 step-by-steps tutorials via the Project Ignite learning platform.
“Fab Lab and Autodesk have multi-year history of collaboration at the local level, and we’re thrilled to be expanding the relationship to a global level. Coupling Autodesk’s intuitive and powerful software with Fab Lab’s worldwide network of fabrication facilities will help us grow and empower even more makers to do great things and solve problems in countries around the world,” according to Sherry Lassiter, President of the Fab Foundation.
By giving generously to Fab Lab, Autodesk has added some significant thrust to Fab Lab’s ongoing mission of providing 3D printing, laser cutting and digital fabrication tools to empower others through design, technology and entrepreneurship.
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