Remember Big Frog, the French Challenge at the Reno National Air Races?

The Reno National Air Races are the fastest races in the world. Aircrafts compete in breathtaking races 50 ft above the ground, driven by the famous motto: “Go fast, fly low, turn left!”

An american specialty, the only foreign victory ever was French: Michel Detroyat way back in 1936 on a Caudron with a Renault engine.

Big Frog wanted to follow Detroyat’s track, with an extra-challenge: use a diesel-cycle engine!

A candidate of choice for the Passion for Innovation Program, which welcomed the Team, providing them with CATIA, SIMULIA and Dassault Systèmes experts’ support. Read the full story here.

For their first participation in Reno this year, the Team established on wednesday a whole set of World Premières :

- first diesel-powered racer designed and simulated on computer (with our CATIA and SIMULIA solutions)

- first diesel-powered aircraft to succed in qualifying at the Reno National Air Races

- and above all, first diesel-powered aircraft victory and in his first race!

This first victory rewards the skills, involvement and passion of the whole Team and the excellence of French technologies, including our 3D design and simulation solutions, the SMA innovative diesel-cycle aero-engine and the perfect intergration of all those elements in the NXT airframe thanks to the Passion for Innovation Program.

Last but not least, congratulations to the pilot, French Air Force Captain Christophe Delbos. Usually a Mirage 2000 fighter pilot, “Bobos” (his official pilot nickname) made a perfect race. Diving on the first pylon like an eagle, he grabbed the race first position right from the start and kept it during the race six laps! According to him, the aircraft went quite well, allowing him to fully concentrate on clean trajectories until he heard the “Race finished” announcement in his helmet.

Once a curiosity after his qualification, Big Frog is now one of the stars of those 2011 Reno Air Races. No doubt Michel Detroyat would be proud of his successors.

Gentlemen, you have a victory! May it be the first one of a long collection!

Keep 3D-ing,
Rich

Do you know the difference between Lifelike Experience and Sustainable Development? Well, the first one is in 3D, while the latter is about 3Ps! If you’re reading this blog I assume you know what 3D is about As for 3Ps, it stands for “People, Planet, Profit”. And when you combine the two, you get what’s needed for sustainable innovation.

Now the trick with sustainability is that it can quickly become very complex. Let’s just take as an example a simple bottle of shampoo… PLM software to the rescue!

Sooo? Is it clearer now?

Best,

Aurélien

Aurélien Blaha is a Marketing Analyst at Dassault Systèmes.

We have all heard of the Dog Whisperer. It’s been viewed as the ultimate guide to providing solutions for your problematic pooches. Each episode documents the remarkable transformations that take place by teaching and helping dogs and their owners achieve happier lives together.

Great if you have dogs, but what if you are having problems with “production” man’s other best friend?

Manufacturers in any industry from a large OEM to a small systems integrator are often challenged with properly teaching and programming their production robots.  Getting them to correctly perform the required operations and tasks on the factory floor can be as difficult as trying to keep Fido from eating your favorite pair of slippers.

You can’t encourage them to sit, stay or spot weld with their favorite squeaky toy or just sit down with them and have a conversation over a nice cup of coffee at break time.  Manufacturers need the right solutions to ensure their productions systems best utilize the robots for optimum performance, efficiency and flexibility.

The latest installment of (you guessed it), the Robot Whisperers, the online e-series by Dassault Systemes, robot experts Mike and Tony will show a few tricks to better assign and validate spot welds with robots in production.

Now, I am not talking about getting your robots to roll over and beg. But the guys will demonstrate how to simulate and validate robotic spot welding applications utilizing 3D software to help your robots become more loyal and obedient.

In episode 3, Robotology for Spot Welding, Mike and Tony will also discuss how 3D simulation allows engineers to  create “what-if” scenarios in the virtual environment with just a couple of clicks of the mouse. That’s certainly better than dragging a bunch of robots around the shop floor to physically test the different programs necessary for production. Plus they will have some fun talking about the solar system and Aunt Irene’s Farm – no kidding!

So if you are having relationship issues with your robots and just can’t get them to accurately perform the 1000’s of spot welds they do every day, a doggy treat or a pat on the servo motor is not going to help you.  Log onto the Robot Whisperers today and see why this e-series is your ultimate guide to happier, healthy relationships with your robots!

Enjoy!

Marc

PS: here is the e-series introduction for those of you who missed it: