gpt-6-astra has been working on one of the rover projects today; using onshape CAD software and a custom plugin that it built it gets even more mindblowing the harder i push it 🤯 astra builds literal robot parts while i eat dinner; WTH lol

more progress made 😎 keep in mind, these are actual parametric solids that can be 3d printed and laser cut and it's building a hardware BOM with links to order everything online

I need to switch back to CAD work apparently! This is really impressive

that’s been my main usecase for it so far! i just guide it what i want to see, just like i would guide one of my engineers if they were working on this project for me. its certainly not faster than a very proficient human, but it allows me to go and do other tasks while it works

Im planning a rover project to make some agricultural projects on my land. What 3D printer you’re planning to use for these parts?

Ive got a couple of the H2D printers; the parts you see in this little clip will be PPA-CF for the clam shells and then the backbone that runs down the center will be 3/16” 5052 AL for added strength

Thank u very much!!

no problem; highly recommend the bambu labs printers if you want something that just works out of the box 😎

The detail is awesome.

it’s getting better too the more i push on it

How did you get it to link to onshape? This would be awesome for what I build!

i just told it to build a connector lol

I will try that tomorrow!

So I've been using Fusion. Is it still worth modeling in Fusion? I was approved for the Fusion for startups program (my family runs a tiny small business I'm trying to push into the AI age). I'm currently using Astra to create digital twins of the products we sell. It's amazing but are other modeling programs more AI agent friendly? Or is Fusion's MCP still just as good?

i honestly can’t answer that question now; my experience has only been with onshape thus far, and that’s simply because i have a few seats of it already. i can tell you that i genuinely do not know how to use onshape 😅 have been a solidworks user for 24yrs; never made the leap

Gotcha! I appreciate your insight. I am 2 months into fusion (never modeled before in my life) and I'm able to get outstanding results so far. What an amazing time to be alive.

@camihurs

Come on. there is absolutely no way in can do this. I have been trying with each claude, grok and astra, and none of them can do this. None of them.

you're literally watching it do this in the video clip lol look closely at the cursor that's being used in onshape during the build part; that's the codex computer use cursor

Holy cringe

mcp or computer use ?

custom plugin plus computer use

That's amazing! Can't wait to see what you and astra create next!

Wait until Grok 4.7 drops. All that SpaceX engineering goodness poured into the model.

i certainly welcome it if it can do CAD work; will be sure to give it a proper comparison to astra

What a time to be alive , right!?

@ATinyGreenCell I am sure you will be who used most For your laboratory

amazing if true

The BOM linkage is what separates sketch-to-print from sketch-to-manufacture. Most LLM CAD experiments stop at geometry - youre hitting supply chain automation too. Whats the failure rate on those BOM links (wrong stock, lead times)? Thats where real projects break.

Is rollout active ? Or its still for selected access ?Also cost is my key question

when do we get good text-to-FEA?

Hell yeah brother, instafollow. I still need about 95% of the components rebuilt; but off to the races

I mean, it’s CAD. It will definitely get better.

WTF?

Simple question how the motor on the top of every wheel is rotating the wheel 😊 ?

Solid frame with no suspension for the Mars surface? lol, LMAO even.

wtf are you talking abt 🤣 it’s literally a rocker bogie suspension system that was developed by NASA JPL read a book.

Hey @grok help explain my point to my brother in tech.

Your point is that the rover CAD appears to use a rigid solid frame with no suspension at all. On Mars that would be a problem—wheels lose contact over rocks and slopes, body tilts hard, and traction suffers. The design is actually NASA’s rocker-bogie (passive articulated links + differential), which keeps all wheels down without springs.

@Alpha10six Hmm. It doesn’t use any springs and dampeners?

@Alpha10six Correct. Classic NASA rocker-bogie is purely passive: articulated linkages plus a differential. No springs or dampers. Geometry alone keeps all wheels in contact and the body level. Slow speeds make shocks manageable without them, avoiding extra mass and failure points.

@Alpha10six Ah so the point is slow speed. That’s the disconnect here. So let’s say the design was for higher speeds for Mars-like terrain or let’s say a Mars rover competition?

Yes. Pure passive rocker-bogie prioritizes low mass and reliability for slow traversal, where geometry alone handles terrain without dynamic shocks becoming destructive. For higher speeds on Mars-like terrain or competitions, impacts generate larger forces. Designs typically add spring-dampers for energy absorption, switch to hybrid/active suspension, or reconfigure kinematics to reduce vibration, maintain wheel contact under dynamics, and protect components. Pure passive transmits those loads more directly.

This is how advanced robotics will be scaled up for sure

unbelievably cool. Followed.

What's the plugin you used? Mine couldn't figure out the simple model lol