FoDES - Future of Design & Engineering Software

Your CAD tool can’t read your intent, but your fabricator still has to. That gap is where AI CAD promises a lot and often delivers noise, broken geometry, or subscription regret. We sit down with Bobby, a mechanical engineer and founder of Transfigure, to get specific about what actually works today and what still fails when you demand a real STEP file you can open and use for getting a quote or for manufacturing.

Bobb...

A text prompt that “almost” makes a bracket is the fastest way to lose an engineer’s trust. I sit down with Peggy Xia, co-founder and CEO of gNucleus, to find out what, besides almost making a bracket, gNucleus was up to.

Peggy's background is not that of a typical AI startup. She has had a career in the real mechanics of engineering AI, CAD automation and simulation workflows with Siemens. He wrote the code for So...

Waiting months for “the next big CAD release” feels out of step with how fast AI is evolving, so we sit down with Darren Henry (SVP, PTC) and Cody Armstrong (Senior Director, Onshape AI Innovation) to explain what Onshape Labs is really designed to do. It is a broad, user-accessible early access program for what’s next in Onshape, where experimental features can ship faster than the normal three-week release caden...

“Make me a car” is an impressive demo until you ask where the braking hydraulics, controls, and safety logic went. 

We let Viral Shah, CEO and founder of JuliaHub, and Chris Rackauckas, tell us about physical AI and its use for systems analysis. 

Its a different AI story than the popular one: physical AI for engineers, where models must respect governing equations, compile, and validate against known test cases....

CAD should be the easiest tool in the room, yet it still feels like stepping into a cockpit packed with controls you have to relearn every time. We sit down with Mark, a longtime developer and former Siemens leader, to talk about why AI is racing ahead in some areas while product design and manufacturing still feel stuck and why the biggest blocker is not geometry, it is the interface.

We break down what large language model...

Rare earth magnets, AI data center energy demand, and electrification are colliding in one place most people ignore: the electric motor. I sit down with Jarek Rzepecki from Monumo to get practical about what it takes to design motors and powertrains when costs, materials, and constraints can shift fast, and when “just optimize the motor” is never the whole story.

We dig into why system-level optimization matters,...

Your wireless device can pass every isolated RF check and still disappoint in the real world. That’s the uncomfortable truth behind crowded stadium Wi-Fi, high-speed mobility, and the next wave of machine-type communication, and it’s exactly why I sat down with the team behind TSF Waves to unpack what “system-level wireless design” actually means.

We get into the hard split that’s held the indus...

We talk with John Harrington, co-founder of HighByte, about why factory-floor data stays invisible to the teams who need it most and how Industrial DataOps closes that gap. We explore contextualized data pipelines, the post-IoT architecture shift toward cloud data platforms, and why AI agents will force a new level of data quality and governance. 
• Moving beyond “throw it over the wall” design and giving engine...

We talk with Juan Carlos Santamaria about how AI in engineering has evolved from rule-based robotics to modern systems that perceive job sites and help machines make better decisions. We dig into Trimble’s push from AI perception to operator assist and what it will take for engineers and operators to trust AI in the field and in design tools. 
• Juan Carlos’s PhD-era view of AI as a multidisciplinary field ...

We talk with OpenSpace CTO Michael Fleischman about turning job-site photos into spatial data that teams can actually act on, from 360 degree capture to progress tracking and AI agents. We dig into why construction software adoption is so hard, and what changes when your phone can be used to create higher-quality data and automation. 
• Michael’s path from philosophy and psychology to computational linguistics and AI&...

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 autonomous shuttles, we show how human-centered design meets hard constraints while accounting for many factors, such as aesthetics and functionality, that design engineers may not consider.

• Tea...

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, limitations, and the roadmap for assemblies and 2D-to-3D.

• Why CAD still slows real projects
• Text to parametric models through a guided brainstorm
• Using RAG to ground sta...

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 with a frank take on what AI can and cannot do for complex physics and where humans must stay in the loop.

• ANSYS ability to simulate crash behaviour, fragmentation
• GPU solvers m...

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 logical reasoning, LLMs, and guardrails to deliver unified observability across IT, OT, and business processes.

• Regional CTO role bridging customers and product
• Autonomous and...

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 why controlled capture makes photogrammetry competitive with LiDAR.

• Controlled handheld capture with four synchronized lenses and GNSS
• Calibrated hardware and encrypted storage w...

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 rapid mood and lighting iteration, while we call for better client tools and more usable AEC software.

• AI passes that enhance materials, lighting, foliage, and people
• ...

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, LLM agents, and how legacy solvers stay central.

• AI copilot that creates and evaluates many variants
• Physics predictive engine for CFD, structures, EM
• Geometry gene...

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 enterprise reality, dig into traceability and DFM, and explore how integrations unlock better simulation.

• Capturing design intent across CAD, PDM, PLM
• Linking requirements, tests, and de...

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 and competing with incumbents while staying focused on validation and usability.

• Seed funding from YC, Floodgate, Boost VC, enabling hiring and product build
• Why New York and oth...