Is interaction with CAD/CAM software evolving?

Many of us have seen the Iron Man movie. There was a scene where Tony Stark designs his suit of armor on a round digital table. What catches the attention is the ability to interact with the model without the use of any mouse or pointing device. He was "testing" the design on the fly, something that would take days or weeks to accomplish today. Some might look at it and say, "That's Sci-Fi." But over the years we've seen technology emerge from what we use to consider fiction 10 or 15 years ago.

Enter a new initiative by Apple. They are working on Head-Tracking for design and manufacturing. There is an interesting read at Manufacturing Software Advice website that I came across. . We have seen similar ones for gaming, but not for our industry.




The funny thing is that I've seen students do that with their screens in my CAD/CAM classes. I myself  have done it once or twice before when I can't understand what's in front of me.

If you're wondering about the CAD software featured in the video it's Autodesk Inventor. An easy to learn CAD system made by Autodesk, the same company that makes AutoCAD.