HACKROD
HACKROD LA BENDITA chassis
La Bendita chassis
Hackrod, the company looking to deliver to market an automobile with a 3D printed chassis, has entered a partnership with Siemens PLM Software.
Together, the companies want to democratise engineering design and manufacturing, creating a process whereby the consumer influences the creation of the product within the automotive sector.
Hackrod announced its intentions to develop a car manufactured with the assistance of Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and additive manufacturing (AM) last month, and set up a crowdfunding campaign to generate funds for a team expansion. It will also now lean on the support of Siemens to develop the ‘La Bandita’ proof-of-concept speedster. The concept Hackrod is trying to prove is a new industrial design to production methodology. Teaming with Siemens PLM, the automotive company’s ‘factory of the future’ will be powered by the Siemens Digital Innovation Platform, enabling individuals and small enterprises to create products ‘as easily as playing a video game’.
“Hackrod’s vision for automotive design is an exciting and unique use of our design and engineering software, and is completely in line with Siemens’ vision for the future of manufacturing,” commented Bob Haubrock, SVP, Product Engineering Software, Siemens PLM Software. “We look forward to seeing the ‘La Bandita’ speedster and using it as proof of concept for this revolutionary design to production methodology.”
With this partnership, Hackrod gains access to a host of design and engineering tools, which will facilitate the swift design, testing and manufacture of transport solutions. They will serve to help Hackrod dodge significant industrial infrastructure and reduce tooling budgets, as the company looks to harness the latest technology to deliver bespoke aesthetic design and optimised hardware. And Hackrod believes that utilisation of contemporary tech, and the assistance of Siemens PLM, will have a significant impact.
“Our vision includes optimised aesthetic design, robust validated engineering, complex advanced manufacturing and rapid in-situ quality assessment,” said Dr. Slade Gardner, Hackrod CTO. “Because the Hackrod vision includes rapid data collection for product design and iteration, and customised manufacturing of sophisticated mechatronic systems, Siemens’ hardware connectivity for Industrial IoT and multi-axis additive manufacturing are critical to success. The products of our partnership will illustrate the impact this team will have with access to world class digital design, engineering, visualisation, manufacturing and inspection power.”
