QAD Dev Log: first motion simulation prototype

Most of our QAD tests so far have focused on creating geometry and technical drawings.

This time we started working on another part of the system: motion.

The video shows a simple mock-up of a six-axis robot.

It is not intended to represent a real industrial robot or a mechanically correct robot design. We built it for one purpose only: to test how motion can be defined and simulated inside QAD.

Importantly, both the model and its motion configuration were created by an AI agent working in QAD through MCP.

Geometry alone is not enough

From the CAD system's point of view, the model is initially just a collection of separate solids.

To make them behave like a mechanism, we need to define the relationships between them.

Which part stays fixed?

Which part moves relative to another?

Around which axis?

Over what range?

Only after defining these relationships does the model start to behave like a mechanism.

In this test, the agent first created the simple robot geometry and then defined the axes and motion ranges.

Then comes the sequence

Defining how each part is allowed to move is still only part of the problem.

We also need to define what should move, when it should move and in what order.

For the test shown in the video, the agent also created a simple motion sequence. The individual axes change position in a predefined order and the whole sequence can be played back as one animation.

At this stage, that was exactly what we wanted to test.

Not whether QAD could already simulate a real robotic production cell, but whether the basic motion system worked and whether an agent could configure it without us doing it manually.

Why this matters for QAD

One of the main ideas behind QAD is that an AI agent should be able to perform more and more of the design process.

Generating geometry is only one part of that.

If an agent is going to handle more complex design tasks, it also needs ways to check its own work.

For mechanisms, motion simulation can become one of those tools.

It gives us a way to start checking whether parts move as expected, whether the available range of motion is sufficient and whether the intended sequence can actually be executed.

Later this can extend into things such as collision checking, mechanical constraints and more complex relationships between components.

We are not there yet.

For now, we are testing the basics

QAD is still an early prototype.

The robot mock-up in the video is intentionally simple because the purpose of this test was the motion system itself, not the quality of the robot model.

This is how we want to approach many of the next features.

Start with a simple case that lets us test the basic assumptions, then gradually move toward more realistic and demanding examples.

This is one of the things we are testing right now.

We will see how far we can take it.

Earlier posts in the QAD Dev Log series:

• Building a CAD as AI-first from the start
• A technical drawing is more abstract than it seems