Free Daily Podcast Summary
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Duann Scott
Recordings of presentations from the CDFAM Computational Design Symposium held worldwide. Leading experts in computational design, AI and machine learning for industrial design, engineering and architecture from industry, academia and software development.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- Yesterday22 min
Teaching AI Engineering not Geometry: Why Text-To-Code-To-CAD, The Next Step In Computational Design
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Tokyo 2026Darren Henry · PTCThe race toward AI-generated CAD has largely focused on teaching models to produce geometry directly—from B-reps and meshes to feature histories and sketches. But what if we’re teaching AI the wrong language?This presentation explores an alternative paradigm: Text-to-Code-to-CAD, where large language models generate engineering logic rather than geometry itself. Instead of predicting low-level geometric entities, AI writes executable CAD code that captures design intent, constraints, parameters, and engineering relationships. The result is not merely a finished model, but a native, editable, and reusable engineering feature that integrates naturally into the design workflow.Using real-world examples, including AI-generated CAD features built through FeatureScript, this session demonstrates how modern language models can write, test, debug, and refine engineering code to create complex parametric designs while preserving the transparency and editability required for professional engineering. The discussion contrasts this approach with direct geometry generation and examines why engineering intent—not geometry—may be the more scalable representation for AI-assisted design.Attendees will leave with a new perspective on computational design: the future may not be AI replacing CAD, but AI leveraging programming languages purpose-built for engineering to accelerate design while keeping engineers firmly in control.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeSearch this talk's transcriptCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
- Yesterday27 min
Mesh-Free Simulation for AI Agents
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Tokyo 2026Matt Sederberg; Dr. Michael Scott · CoreformMatt Sederberg and Dr. Michael Scott of Coreform present isogeometric analysis (IGA) as a route to simulating directly on CAD geometry, and outline a mathematical framework for running multi-agent LLM workflows in high-assurance engineering domains.Sederberg covers the background of IGA, introduced by Tom Hughes and now the subject of more than 7,000 research papers, and its recent integration into Abaqus through a partnership with Dassault Systèmes. In one example, a brake caliper that took 20 hours to defeature and hex mesh, with critical fillets removed, was ready to solve in under a minute with full CAD geometry intact. With no meshing step, an agent can change the design, rerun the analysis and read the results without a human repairing the mesh in between.Scott then previews Coreform AI, built on four concepts:IGA as a robust physics solver for agent-driven workflowsA data weave, an algebraic relational representation that lets agents query all simulation pipeline data at roughly constant token cost, regardless of data sizeSupport for smaller, controllable and air-gapped models, demonstrated with Claude Haiku reaching the same result as larger modelsAgent coordination posed as an energy minimization problem using game theory, with market mechanisms that penalize agents for false completion claimsHe also describes formally verifying the underlying software in Lean, with more than 6,000 theorems backing returned results.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeSearch this talk's transcriptCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
- 2 weeks ago18 min
Form Follows Force: Data-Responsive Stochastic Algorithms For Additive Footwear
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Tokyo 2026David Burpee · MorphXgenMany Additive footwear platforms promise a level of customization beyond traditional footwear manufacturing processes, but how custom is it really? This presentation will explore a variety of strategies for the integration of various custom data into bespoke additive-ready algorithms in footwear design. The ability to create force-responsive structures through various types of micro lattice to tune flexibility, gradient behavior, anisotropy all within the confines of additive manufacturability parameters. Approaches include multi-agent algorithms with intelligent emergent behavior, simulation-driven anisotropic stochastic lattice structures, and body-responsive data mapping for truly one-of-one additive footwear creations.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeSearch this talk's transcriptCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
- 2 weeks ago22 min
Sub-Optimal: Designer-Built Tools for Additive Manufacturing
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Tokyo 2026Sarat Babu · SARATComputational design approaches to optimization are often constrained by the tools available and the established methods for generating optimal forms. With AI coding tools, the barrier for designers to develop their own software and pipelines has dropped considerably.Sub-Optimal reframes optimization around two priorities: preserving the original designer’s macro intent, and using geometry to address the anisotropic surface roughness of additive manufacturing. The result is neither lattice application nor topology optimization, but a grown internal structure driven by simulation, surface texture and build orientation that remains largely invisible at the macro level.The talk covers the trust gap senior engineers face with optimized DfAM parts, the use of surface texture to mask layering defects and build orientation, and how the pipeline was built in six weeks for about $400 in AI tokens using open-source libraries including geometry3Sharp and OpenVDB, with 3MF as the output format.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeSearch this talk's transcriptCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
- 3 weeks ago23 min
Introducing AURA, A Reasoning Engine for Design Exploration and Synthesis by Braid
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Tokyo 2026This episode is the opening keynote from CDFAM Tokyo 2026, presented by Guido Cossu and Ivo Timóteo of Braid.Braid was founded in Tokyo in 2020 by a team drawn from physics, applied mathematics, computational geometry, large-scale simulation and machine learning. At the time, the prevailing view in AI held that scaling end-to-end learning on ever-larger datasets would solve most problems. Braid took a different position: engineering design, where physical accuracy, safety and manufacturability are non-negotiable, requires reasoning from the laws of physics and the constraints of manufacturing rather than pattern-matching from prior examples. Their system, AURA, combines learning with formal reasoning to move from engineering intent to manufacturable geometry, replacing the manual draw, simulate, review and redraw loop with structured exploration of alternatives that the engineer evaluates and selects from.In this talk, Cossu and Timóteo explain the semantic architecture behind that approach and show results from deployments in Japanese manufacturing, across several mass-production processes with little in common.The Best Design Is The Design You Can MakeGuido Cossu; Ivo Timóteo · BraidAcross computational design, the part that performs and the part that can be built are rarely the same part: optimization and generative methods meet the functional targets, and the work of making the result manufacturable happens afterward, by hand, often negating the performance that was gained. Braid closes that gap differently. Rather than optimizing a seed geometry or generating candidates from data, the system designs de novo — geometry reasoned directly from what an engineer specifies: function, physical conditions, the manufacturing process the part must suit, the cost it must meet. The mechanism is semantic reasoning rather than data-driven generation: a semantic architecture encodes physics, geometry, and manufacturing constraints with their relationships, and enforces constraint satisfaction by construction. Because the manufacturing process is reasoned from rather than filtered for, the geometry is manufacturable from the first output, not repaired into manufacturability afterward.Braid demonstrate this on real engineering components across several conventional mass-manufacturing processes, each with its own design constraints. The examples come from deployments in Japanese manufacturing industries where tolerances are tight and errors are costly. One system handling processes with so little in common is the crucial point: each result is reasoned from principle, not retrieved from examples of similar parts — which is, in the end, the difference between a design system you can trust on a novel part and one you can only trust on a familiar one.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeInterview with BraidCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
- Oct 5, 202620 min
The Era of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Generation of Building Materials
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — DC 2026Giorgia Cannici · Virginia TechWhat if material fabrication could shift from assembly to growth—and be directed with precision through external fields?This work introduces magnetotropic plants: genetically engineered organisms in which gravity-sensing organelles (statoliths) are rendered magnetically responsive. By replacing gravitational cues with externally applied magnetic fields, plant growth direction can be actively controlled in real time. This enables programmable morphogenesis, where biological growth becomes a steerable process rather than a fixed outcome of genetics and environment.The presentation will outline the biological mechanism, the experimental framework, and the implications of this approach for material production.Magnetic fields act as an invisible, non-contact control layer, allowing spatial and temporal guidance of growth without mechanical intervention.Beyond applications in microgravity environments such as space, this work suggests a broader shift in how we produce materials—moving from extractive, energy-intensive processes toward growth-driven fabrication, where form emerges from the interaction between engineered biology and designed environmental conditions.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeSearch this talk's transcriptCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
- Oct 3, 202619 min
From Horns to Armor: Biomimicry, Computational Design, and the Future of Impact Protection
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — DC 2026Matthew Shomper · Not a Robot EngineeringNature has been solving the problem of impact protection for millennia, in order to arrive at solutions far more elegant than anything on the market today. The microstructure of a bighorn sheep’s horn is one of the most striking examples : a geometry that is brutally efficient at scattering and absorbing energy, such that the animal can sustain repeated high-speed collisions without lasting damage. The challenge has always been translating that geometry into something we can actually manufacture.Additive manufacturing allows us to build internal geometries that were previously impossible to fabricate : graded densities, interlocking fiber patterns, and layered structures that mirror what nature spent millions of years optimizing. By digitally modeling the ram’s horn at the microstructural level and translating those patterns directly into printable designs, we can produce armor components that outperform conventional materials in energy absorption while perfectly conforming to the body.This work represents a broader shift in protective equipment design: away from material selection alone, and toward architecture as the primary engineering tool.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeSearch this talk's transcriptCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
- Oct 1, 202623 min
Before the Model: Aurora as AI-Grounded Climate Intelligence for Early-Stage Design
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — DC 2026Damola Michael; Elliot Glassman · CannonDesignThe environmental design conversation typically begins too late, after massing is committed and geometry is locked. Aurora repositions that conversation to day one, giving architects and engineers an immediate, evidence-based picture of any site before a design tool is opened.The platform synthesises EPW weather files, CMIP6 climate projections, ASHRAE design conditions, NOAA historical records for US sites, and seismic hazard data into a unified analysis environment, covering temperature and humidity distributions, wind roses, solar radiation by facade orientation, thermal comfort (UTCI, PET, SET), rainfall, carbon intensity, and future projections to 2050. Every analysis is immediately exportable as a formatted PDF or PowerPoint report, ready to present to a client or design team without additional preparation.Two integrated AI layers surface this data as design insight. A streaming conversational assistant powered by Google Gemini is grounded in the actual EPW and CMIP6 data for the active location. It explains what site climate means for design decisions, renders specific charts inside the conversation, and adjusts application settings through natural language. A second layer generates AI-written summary cards for ASHRAE design conditions and 2050 climate outlooks, automatically scoped to the site.Aurora does not generate or evaluate geometry. This is intentional: it is a pre-design climate intelligence layer, not a replacement for tools like Autodesk Forma. It provides the environmental literacy that should inform every decision made in those tools, a shared language between architect, engineer, and client before a single wall is drawn.LinksTalk page with full transcriptWatch the talk on YouTubeSearch this talk's transcriptCite this talk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com
Get CDFAM Computational Design Symposium summaries in your inbox
Free AI-powered daily recaps. Key takeaways, quotes, and mentions — in a 5-minute read.
Get Free Summaries →Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.
You Might Also Like
Listeners also like.
Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast
Conversations with AI engineers, researchers, and founders on foundation models, AI agents, infrastructure, and scientific discovery.
"The Cognitive Revolution"
Explores the transformative impact of artificial intelligence through interviews with innovators shaping its future.
School of Motion Podcast
Interviews with motion designers, animators, and 3D artists exploring creativity, software techniques, and the business of design.
How I AI
A practical guide to using AI tools in work and life, featuring guests who share specific, actionable techniques and workflows.
The Second Studio Design and Architecture Show
Architects discuss design, architecture, and everyday life with creative professionals in unscripted conversations.
Artificial Intelligence Masterclass
Examines the philosophical and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence and its impact on society, meaning, and the future of work.
Data Science With Sam
Discussions with data scientists and AI practitioners about real-world tools, deployments, and challenges in data science and artificial intelligence.
Design Matters with Debbie Millman
Creative people discuss how they shape their lives and careers through design, art, and personal philosophy.
Practical AI
Discusses practical applications and real-world implementations of AI, machine learning, and related technologies for a broad audience.
Intentional AI
Two productivity experts explore practical applications of artificial intelligence to improve work efficiency and daily workflows.
Training Data
Discussions with AI researchers and builders exploring the technological, business, and societal impacts of artificial intelligence.
The AI in Business Podcast
Interviews with AI executives reveal practical applications and strategic insights for business leaders adopting AI.
About CDFAM Computational Design Symposium
Recordings of presentations from the CDFAM Computational Design Symposium held worldwide. Leading experts in computational design, AI and machine learning for industrial design, engineering and architecture from industry, academia and software development.
Customized Recaps
AI-powered recaps with compact key takeaways, quotes, and insights.
Straight to Your Inbox
Get key takeaways from CDFAM Computational Design Symposium in a 5-minute read.
Save Hours Every Week
Stay current on your favorite podcasts without falling behind.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Podzilla's CDFAM Computational Design Symposium daily summary?
It's a free AI-powered email that summarizes new episodes of CDFAM Computational Design Symposium as soon as they're published. You get the key takeaways, notable quotes, and links & mentions — all in a quick read.
How does the CDFAM Computational Design Symposium podcast summary work?
When a new episode drops, our AI transcribes and analyzes it, then generates a personalized summary tailored to your interests and profession. It's delivered to your inbox every morning.
Is this an official CDFAM Computational Design Symposium product?
No. Podzilla is an independent service that summarizes publicly available podcast content. We're not affiliated with or endorsed by Duann Scott.
Can I get summaries of other podcasts too?
Absolutely! The free plan covers up to 3 podcasts, any in the catalog. Basic raises that to 15, Pro to 40 and Max to 100. Browse our full catalog at /podcasts.
How often does CDFAM Computational Design Symposium release new episodes?
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium publishes daily. Our AI generates a summary within hours of each new episode.
What topics does CDFAM Computational Design Symposium cover?
CDFAM Computational Design Symposium covers topics including Education, Arts, Design. Our AI identifies the specific themes in each episode and highlights what matters most to you.
Start getting CDFAM Computational Design Symposium summaries tomorrow morning.
Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.
Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.