Callan Carpenter, Autodesk Vice President of Global Named Accounts, recently spoke at Autodesk University South Africa as part of an introductory session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXoGGsJDndU
He has a voice that sounds like Ironman. Capitalizing on this, he put on a little show, predicting what it might be like being an Architect in a few years from now. Iron Man the Architect? You better believe it! It is truly inspiring, exiting but also scary. If this tech becomes a reality (and I believe it will), a lot of people are going to have to change and reinvent themselves like never before. My advice? Embrace it!
He highlighted that we are in a new era of production, connection and machine learning. Is a robot about to lay bricks? You bet! And good show, as the bricklayer may now be taught how to service the robot instead. Education is the key, and we all need a wakeup call in this respect.
Production advances include 3D Printing. Specifically titanium parts are being printed and used in the aviation industry, a most demanding client if there ever was one.
3D printing also lends itself to a change in supply management, where parts can be printed on demand, eliminating the need to keep stock in warehouses.
Virtual Design which allows great collaboration between distributed teams. Specialists from around the world like to collaborate on projects with each other and need these tools to effectively communicate their designs.
Connection is focussed on the fact that many products in the world are now streaming information which may be used in, for instance, smart city design and management.
Autodesk has released Forge as an open source platform for anyone (even their competitors) to program platforms that might be needed in industry.
