University of Michigan Taubman College Licenses Academic Version of LGD 3D Geometric Constraint Solver by LEDAS

LGS 3D component technology will be used for developing experimental robotic scripting applications using Rhinoceros 3D software

The University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and LEDAS Ltd., an independent provider of variational design tools, component technologies, and software development services for CAD/CAM/CAE/PLM market, today announced that LGS 3D geometric constraint solver will be used for scientific research in the field of robotics.

Wesley McGee, a Researcher/Lecturer in Architectural CAD/CAM technologies at the University of Michigan Taubmann College of Architecture and Urban Planning explains: "My current work, along with Dave Pigram of Pratt Institute includes developing robotic scripting applications using Rhinoceros 3D software. We are very interested in LEDAS Rhino Assembly plug-in and the geometric constraint engine it based on. One area we are investigating is the development of kinematic simulation of our robotic workcell in Rhino. We currently use several competing products to handle this, but to have a system completely based in Rhino would provide a lot of freedom. While our scripts are currently very successful at generating robotic code, we still simulate using an offline simulation package. We believe using the LGS 3D engine we may be able to build an offline simulation plug-in for Rhino."

LEDAS licensing policy for non-commercial academic and educational organizations assumes granting a free access to its LGS software in exchange to mentioning it in academic publications, which researchers will publish. Free Academic Licensing approach gives unique opportunity for researches and students to access state-of-the-art parameterization technology.

"Several leading universities has already licensed our LGS software," said Dmitry Ushakov, Director of Product Management, LEDAS Ltd. "Examples are Purdue University in USA and Northwestern Politechnical University in China. We are happy to extend our academic program by entering into a partnership with the world famous University of Michigan."

About LGS Software

The LGS 2D and 3D geometric constraint solvers are used as parametric engines for 2D sketching and drawing, history-free 3D modeling, assembly design, motion analysis, and other geometric modeling applications. LGS 2D and 3D are cross-platform software packages running on 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, *BSD, AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, and other OSes. Coded in C++, LGS 2D and 3D have a C-style API for easy integration into a broad range of software applications using a variety of wrappers, such as .NET, Java, and C++.

LGS 2D/3D supports the creation and modification of geometric models by means of explicit or implicit constraints. (Geometric objects include points, lines, circles, planes, cylinders, spheres, parametric curves, surfaces and swept surfaces.) Objects can be fixed in the absolute coordinate system or relative to each other. Supported geometric constraints include logical constraints between geometric entities (coincidence, parallelism, tangency, and so on), and dimensional constraints that specify the required values for distances, angles, or radiuses. LGS 2D/3D moves and rotates objects to positions that satisfy all constraints, yet minimizes transformations from initial configurations. Other LGS functions implement advanced features of CAD/CAM/CAE systems, such as diagnostics of over- and under-defined parts of models, engineering variables and equations, "help" points, and tolerance management.

Sample applications named "Lege’n’d 2D/3D" are available for free download from the LEDAS Web site. These representative examples show the kinds of 2D sketches and 3D assemblies made possible by LGS. The applications can be used by anyone to test the functionality, robustness, and performance of LGS 2D/3D. The sample applications were created with the Open CASCADE open-source application framework, and their source code is available to all licensees.

To learn more about LGS 2D/3D, visit the LEDAS Web site at www.ledas.com/products/lgs3d/.

About LEDAS

LEDAS Ltd. is an independent software development company founded in 1999. It is based in the Novosibirsk Scientific Centre at (Akademgorodok), the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science. A leader in constraint-based technologies, LEDAS is a well-known provider of computational software components for PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions: geometric constraint solvers for CAD/CAM/CAE, optimization engines for project management, work scheduling and meeting planning as well as interval technologies for knowledge-based engineering and collaborative design.

The company also provides comprehensive services for PLM markets, including software development, consulting, reselling, education, and training.

More information about LEDAS is available at www.ledas.com.

LGS and Rhino Assembly are trademarks of LEDAS Ltd. Any other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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