#AUDesignChallenge: The Winners
As you all know, we recently ran a contest, challenging the Fusion 360 and Inventor community to design a functional piece of furniture (i.e. chair, stool, table, desk, bed frame…) that flat packs using only plywood as material. Entrants were asked to share their best images/renderings on social media (Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter) using the challenge hashtag. This challenge ran for 4 weeks starting September 10th.
The month went by in the blink of an eye!
The first-place winner of this challenge earns a free trip to Autodesk University, including flight to and from (up to $1,000), 3 nights hotel, and a full pass to the conference. He or she will also be recognized on Monday, November 12th at the AU Design & Manufacturing Awards.
We were very excited and impressed to see the numerous designs shared – the possibilities were endless. We saw creative designs for stools, tables, chairs, desks – everyone really brought their A-Game and we enjoyed seeing what the community came up with. Thank you to everyone who took part. To take a look at the entries, search #AUDesignChallenge on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook and take a peek at the incredible designs that were submitted.
Without further ado, here are the winners of this year’s AUDesign Challenge:
1st Place: A trip to Autodesk University 2018 Las Vegas, and recognition at our second annual D&M Awards.
Congratulations to Anne Pauley! Anne won for her seating pod design, modeled and rendered in Fusion 360. Inspired by tessellation and honeycomb patterns in additive manufacturing, the pod is made from .75” plywood, using four different kinds of joints, all designed to be cut on a CNC router. Her seating pod was built with the intention of encouraging face-to-face collaboration at events (such as Autodesk University). We chose Anne’s design based on its creativity and complexity, as well as the quality of the model and renderings she chose to share.
As for the designer:
Anne is a mechanical engineer at FATHOM in Oakland CA, where she works on the Design and Engineering team, a group of engineers and designers that support clients throughout the product development process from prototyping to production. They specialize in using additive technologies in conjunction with traditional manufacturing methods to drive innovation, and leverage FATHOM’s on-site production facilities for prototyping and production. Before working at FATHOM, Anne completed an internship at Walt Disney World in Orlando where she worked on mechanical design with the Animation Systems team that creates animatronic figures for the Disney theme parks. She also interned at Autodesk Pier 9 as the Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing Curriculum Intern where she developed CAD and CAM for CNC sample parts. She graduated with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 2018 from Penn State University, where she also received a BS in Mechanical Engineering and BA in Music.
Check out the design below that landed her first place:
2nd Place: a $500 Gift Card from Amazon
Taking second place is Errison Zelaya, a self-proclaimed builder, innovator, installer, and troubleshooter who hopes to inspire young engineers. After seeing his lounge chair design, we immediately all wanted one. This complex and attractive model includes everything needed for relaxing – complete with a cup holder. We can’t wait to see what he comes up with next!
Errison shares: “If you’ve ever sat in a lounge chair and observed your legs, you will notice that they never both want to be in the same place. This is the reason for the independent movement of back and leg supports. I am hoping that one day I or maybe a few people will actually cut this model on a CNC router.”
Check out his lounger design below:
Our 3rd place winner, Josh Peterson, designed a table with an intricate and attractive base. According to his entry: “7 pairs of crossed members make up the base of the table, each composed of 2 identical pieces joined with a lap joint, as well as the center insert acting as a dowel on all 7 sets of legs. Then, utilizing a through mortise, the parts are joined to the top and base of the table.” We were very impressed with the amount of effort Josh clearly put into this piece, and hope to see his vision come to life someday.
View Josh’s table design below:
There were so many great entries to choose from, and we wish we could have given them all a prize. We will do a follow-up post to highlight some of the other great submissions we saw. In the meantime, we encourage you to check all of them out on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
