SBIR Phase II: Cloud-based Simulation Service for Makers

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in the democratization of manufacturing through democratization of design and simulation technologies. Geometric design systems and CAD tools are now widely available as standalone systems or cloud-based services, but simulation technologies remain inaccessible due to high cost, tedious data preparation, and demand of expertise in structural simulation. This project aims to make structural simulation widely available to both novice and expert users as a low cost fully automated service that requires no preprocessing or data conversion. The cloud-based simulation service is a disruptive technology that will make structural simulation widely available to communities of makers, as well as manufacturing enterprises, leading to dramatic improvements in performance, manufacturability, sustainability and cost savings. Wide adaption of simulation tools is also an important ingredient of STEM education and workforce development. This project will address the technical challenges identified in Phase I of the project, focusing on the goal of making cloud-based structural simulation service easily accessible and widely used. The key ingredients of the proposed approach are: (1) Development of novel user interaction modes and scenarios that enable rapid creation, composition, and editing of structural simulations by novice and expert users; (2) Guided interactive interpretation and exploration of simulation results aimed to not only to convey and explain simulation results, but also to engage the users into improving their designs by creating improved simulation scenarios. (3) Context-integrated simulations, where automated simulations are fully integrated with other services and delivered seamlessly within the context of common design or manufacturing applications, such as shape design, 3D printing, or manufacturability analysis.