3YOURMIND’s New AI Speeds Up Technical Drawing Analysis for Part Identification

German-US software provider 3YOURMIND, a longtime innovator in the additive manufacturing (AM) design space, has announced a new feature for its signature Part Identification software: a Technical Drawing Analysis function powered by AI. This latest update to 3YOURMIND’s flagship product enables engineers to automate the process of extracting data from technical (2D) drawings that can be used to identify viable candidates for AM and other advanced manufacturing technologies.

The Technical Drawing Analysis capability uses a combination of a large language model (LLM) and optical character recognition (OCR) — the automated transformation of images of text into machine-readable text — to evaluate 2D drawings in terms of their potential to be produced with a wide range of AM processes, and other techniques, including CNC machining. According to 3YOURMIND, the feature accomplishes the task up to 200x faster than manual methods.

Moreover, 3YOURMIND’s Technical Drawing Analysis adds the crucial ability to estimate both cost and lead time for the parts identified. Alongside the software’s International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) compliance and 3YOURMIND’s extensive experience working with both public and private customers in the defense sector, the cost and lead-time forecast function should make manufacturers of parts for strategic sectors ideal early adopters of the new product.

The Technical Drawing Analysis feature is now available as a free trial for qualifying companies, and anyone interested can use this link to get started by requesting a free consultation.

In a press release about 3YOURMIND’s new AI-powered Technical Drawing Analysis feature, the company’s Chief Product Officer, Stephan Galozy, said, “In many industries, technical drawings remain the primary reference for manufacturing spare parts. Our goal is to unlock the full potential of this existing data, enabling organizations to make faster, more informed manufacturing decisions. By streamlining this otherwise manually-intensive process, we’re helping to accelerate the next step: the 3D file. Our long-term vision for this functionality is text-to-3D.”

“Text-to-3D” is a theme that’s currently generating a significant amount of investor interest, with Markforged co-founder Greg Mark’s latest venture, Backflip AI, announcing a $30 million funding round in December 2024, which included some impressive names. It was also announced last month that Google co-founder Larry Page is involved in a stealth-mode startup that sounds like it’s working on something similar.

Despite the already fierce competition, 3YOURMIND is nonetheless in quite an enviable position to succeed at ultimately developing the Technical Drawing Analysis feature into a top-tier text-to-3D platform. If “gold in, gold out” can be considered the counterpart to “garbage in, garbage out” when it comes to AI, then 3YOURMIND is certainly sitting on a goldmine in terms of its access to manufacturing data.

In addition to its longstanding work on part identification with multiple branches of the US military, 3YOURMIND also has the advantage of being part of the AM Ventures universe — a leading investor in AM — giving the company direct entree to the latest work by some of the most promising enterprises in the AM industry. It’s worth mentioning here that, as yet, the valuation of AM data itself remains rather unclear. A true appraisal of the totality of information controlled by the industry as a whole is the sort of catalyst that could mark a genuine long-term inflection point for the financial outlook of AM enterprises.

Images courtesy of 3YOURMIND