Lesson 4: Design process

Now that you have your idea, you can start designing your object. You should use design software that you are familiar with from the Innovation Hub Maker Space courses. Keep referring to your whiteboard notes and design brief to keep you on target.

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Some design software has AI capabilities built into the program that you can use in your process. Other software won’t have AI built-in, but you can still use AI chatbots and image generators to use AI like an assistant.

For example:

While designing a 3D object in Fusion 360, you may wonder how the final piece will be used so that you can make sure to make it strong enough to cope with any use. You could construct a chatbot prompt to list ways that your object could be used and any potential problems.

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Or you may be working on a design for a part of your object and need some inspiration for how it could look. An AI image generator could quickly bring up some options to inspire you. Make sure to be as specific as possible to get useful results.

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Note: Fusion 360

Fusion 360 has AI capabilities, called automated modelling. Learning how to use AI automated modelling on Fusion 360 is beyond the scope of this lesson, but you can start to learn about it on this video

If you are using the Education, Startup, Trial or Paid versions of Fusion 360, you can access their AI features (more information here ).
 

When you are happy with the design of your object, follow the other courses to fabricate the object using whatever machine you need.

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It may take you a while to get a physical result you’re happy with. This is a natural part of the design process, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work out the first time. Remember that you can use a chatbot and image generator at this stage to refine a part of the design, or to questions a part of the design brief.