Why Robotics Companies Choose Cloud-Native CAD and PDM

Robotics companies don’t have time to wait on their CAD system. Here are the gains 7 different teams experienced after switching to Onshape, PTC’s database-driven, cloud-native CAD and PDM system.

• Automation Within Reach (AWR) gains 40-50% faster iteration
• Fauna Robotics iterates five robot generations in 18 months
• hibot gets new engineers productive in just a few days
• Kaikaku goes from idea to CAD, prototype, and procurement in about seven days
• Marble sees at least 2X more engineering productivity
• Niryo boosts design productivity by 30-40%
• Saga Robotics experiences 30-40% faster design cycles

Onshape was built to achieve these results. Onshape uniquely supports robotics teams spread across disciplines and locations who are working in a fast, experimental industry.

Don’t believe us? Hear from the companies using Onshape today about how the platform enabled better workflows.

Single Source of Truth Enables Real-Time Collaboration

File-based CAD means exporting, emailing, and hoping the model is still current. With cloud-native CAD and PDM, file-based problems disappear, replaced by smooth collaboration.

“We’d export STEP files, send them across time zones, and by the time someone reviewed them, the model was already outdated,” says Sebastian Isted, a mechatronics engineer at Saga Robotics.

In Onshape, everyone works in the same design at the same time.

“My team can share a link, and I can instantly view the latest model, see how things fit, evaluate cost and materials, and provide feedback on the fly,” says Saga Chief Product Officer Damian Flynn. Saga estimates its design cycles are now 30-40% faster.

AWR sees the same benefit.

“Our robot programmers don’t need to ask us for models all the time. We can just share them a link,” says mechanical product design engineer Tyler This. In an early evaluation using Onshape, two AWR engineers in different locations rebuilt nearly an entire robotic cell in about 16 hours.

Branching and Merging Support Experimentation

Robotics runs on experiments. Branching and merging lets teams test changes on a copy of the design and merge only what works.

"We can work with CAD as if we were building code,” says Frederico Rodrigues, Head of Engineering at Marble. “For us, that has been very, very powerful.” Marble’s typical design loop runs for three to six weeks, with branches explored while manufacturing and ground testing continue simultaneously.

Fauna Robotics uses branches to move fast on subassemblies.

“We can prototype lots of subassemblies to test what works and what doesn’t, and then integrate those changes back into the main design,” says Anthony Moschella, VP of Product and Hardware. Fauna Robotics has developed five generations of its robot platform in 18 months.

Back at AWR, Tyler This says branching and merging is a favorite feature.

“I can make a quick branch, try a change, and, if it works, merge it back into the main branch and keep moving,” he says.

At Niryo, Mechanical Design Engineer Robin Guelton says branching lets the team combine its best work. “We can subsequently choose to keep the best of each modification when merging the branches. This gives our mechanical design department tremendous power for fast and collaborative iteration.”

Built-in PDM a Big Advantage

In Onshape, product data management (PDM) is part of the CAD system. There’s nothing separate to buy, install, or administer.

“One of the biggest advantages of using Onshape is getting your PDM and CAD management essentially for free,” says Moschella. “In previous companies, we had entire teams of CAD administrators just to keep everything in sync. That’s a tax you don’t want to pay as a startup.”

The payoff is confidence.

“Our robots represent a significant financial investment, and we need absolute confidence that the right information is reaching the right people,” says Peter Sommer, Head of Product Manufacturing at hibot. “There’s very little room for ordering the wrong parts.”

Visible Design History Records Every Change

Every change in Onshape is recorded, and any earlier state can be restored. Now, mistakes stop being scary.

“The biggest impact on our business was making us more ambitious and less afraid of making mistakes, because they are now relatively easy to fix,” says Rodrigues.

When a Marble engineer accidentally deleted an assembly, the team merged back only the missing assembly and kept everything done since.

“We are not afraid to take large risks in terms of changing the shape of the aircraft and its subsystem,” Rodrigues says.

Niryo’s Guelton no longer has to manage versions by hand.

“Thanks to the real-time history of all design steps, I have been able to develop my creative work without having to spend energy on versioning and storing my various product design attempts,” he says.

hibot’s engineers get the same safety net, and new hires ramp up fast. “With Onshape, the learning curve is almost flat. New engineers are productive in just a few days,” says Sommer. “And seasoned team members love the ability to time travel. To go back, roll revisions, or merge features without fear of losing work.”

Scale Up with Configurations and Large Assemblies

Robots come in families and grow to thousands of parts. Configurations keep variants manageable.

“We have a lot of similar parts with slight variations," says Ivan Tregear, Chief Technology Officer at Kaikaku. “Managing that complexity is one of the biggest challenges, and one of the biggest advantages of how we use Onshape.”

The size of a design isn’t a problem either. hibot’s robots can reach 16,000 parts.

“With Onshape, we don’t worry about hardware performance,” says Sommer. “We just open the model and get to work.”

Saga Robotics’ robot, named Thorvald, is modular, so wheelsets, sensors, UV-C lights, and tool attachments can be switched for new environments.

“Onshape lets us tweak a single module and immediately see how it works across all variants,” says Flynn.

Choose a CAD and PDM that Keeps Up with Robotics

Seven robotics companies, seven different robots, and one pattern: fewer file headaches, faster iteration, and bolder ideas. The common thread isn’t a single feature but what happens when CAD and PDM live in the cloud.

“We cannot afford to overcomplicate things,” says Rodrigues. “We need to get out there, build, test, learn, and build again.”

Ready to see what cloud-native CAD and PDM can do for your robotics team?