Image Credit: Adobe StockLearn more about AI technologies at IMTS 2026 in our guides to AI Management Tools, AI Maintenance Tools, AI Inspection Technologies, and AI Robotics Technologies. For related resources covering automation more broadly, explore the 79 Automation Solutions at IMTS 2026.AI is adding new capabilities to computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering software. Depending on the application, it can propose design alternatives, recommend modeling steps, help generate machining operations, or predict how a design will perform without requiring a full physics-based simulation for every variation.Engineers, designers, and programmers still establish requirements, review recommendations, validate results, and decide which approach to pursue. Here are six AI-enabled design and simulation technologies you can find at IMTS 2026.1. AI-Assisted Generative DesignGenerative design allows an engineer to define what a component must do before deciding exactly what it should look like. The user enters requirements such as loads, dimensions, materials, weight, cost, and manufacturing methods, and the software returns alternative geometries that meet those conditions. Unlike a general-purpose generative AI tool, it depends on detailed engineering constraints and requires the user to compare and validate the results. Because several valid designs may satisfy the same constraints, engineers typically compare trade-offs among mass, stiffness, cost, and manufacturability rather than accept a single automatically selected answer. At IMTS 2026, attendees can speak with Autodesk (IMTS booth #133310) about Generative Design in Autodesk Fusion, which explores alternatives based on user-defined materials, loads, manufacturing methods, and performance requirements.2. AI-Assisted Process Planning and SimulationProcess planning determines the operations, equipment, resources, and sequence needed to manufacture or assemble a product. Virtual process simulation then tests the proposed process, including robot paths, human tasks, machine movements, cycle times, accessibility, and possible collisions. AI-assisted process planning can propose how work should be performed, while simulation allows engineers to evaluate that plan before equipment is installed or reconfigured.AI can help engineers build these studies, investigate problems, interpret results, and propose changes. Among the exhibitors working in this area is Siemens (IMTS booth #338262) with its Process Simulate Copilot, which uses natural-language prompts to retrieve and manipulate study objects, position components, and create or adjust robot paths.3. AI-Assisted CAD and Model CreationComputer-aided design, or CAD, defines a product's geometry, dimensions, assemblies, and design intent. AI features can reduce repetitive work by predicting commands, recommending selections, recognizing patterns, constructing assembly structures, and explaining modeling errors. The designer remains responsible for dimensions, tolerances, material choices, and manufacturability. Because the CAD model feeds drawings, simulation, and CAM, automated changes should also be checked for altered design intent and broken downstream references. For an example of this technology, visitors can head to GoEngineer (IMTS booth #338473) to learn about SolidWorks Design, which includes AI tools for command prediction, assembly-structure generation, modeling recommendations, and error explanations.4. AI-Assisted CAM and CNC ProgrammingComputer-aided manufacturing, or CAM, turns a digital design into instructions for making the part. In machining, this includes selecting operations, tools, toolpaths, feeds, and speeds before generating the NC program. AI-assisted CAM can recognize part geometry, recommend machining strategies, and generate operations and toolpaths. Machine limits, tool availability, workholding, and postprocessor behavior still determine whether a generated strategy can run safely, so the program must be reviewed and verified before production.Visitors can speak with Mastercam (IMTS booth #133222) about Mastercam Copilot, which can adjust feeds and speeds and create machine groups and operations, or CloudNC (IMTS booths #133259 and #133028) about CAM Assist, which generates machining strategies and toolpaths.5. AI-Accelerated CAEComputer-aided engineering, or CAE, analyzes how a design is likely to perform, including stress, deformation, vibration, fatigue, heat transfer, and electromagnetics. AI surrogate models can learn from completed simulations and predict the behavior of related designs more quickly, allowing engineers to screen alternatives before conducting full simulations and physical tests. These predictions are most dependable when new cases resemble the geometries and operating conditions represented in the training data; unfamiliar designs still require conventional simulation and engineering review. Other AI tools accelerate CAE by guiding or automating steps in the simulation workflow rather than predicting the physics directly. At IMTS 2026, Cosmon AI (IMTS booth #237600) will be showcasing Nexus, an engineering AI agent that connects to simulation tools, including Ansys, and assists with simulation setup, troubleshooting, and postprocessing.6. AI-Accelerated CFD and Thermal SimulationComputational fluid dynamics, or CFD, is a branch of CAE that models the movement of liquids and gases. Engineers use it to study airflow, pressure, turbulence, drag, cooling, combustion, mixing, and heat transfer. AI models trained on previous CFD results can rapidly screen new geometries before engineers run full simulations on the most promising designs.Boundary conditions remain crucial because changes in inlet flow, pressure, temperature, or turbulence assumptions can materially change a result even when the geometry is unchanged. At the show, visitors can ask Siemens (IMTS booth #338262) about its Simcenter PhysicsAI, which builds AI surrogate models from CFD data while keeping high-fidelity simulation available as the validation reference.Save the date for IMTS 2028, Sept. 11-16, 2028, at McCormick Place in Chicago, to explore these AI design and simulation technologies and speak with exhibitors about the applications that fit your operation.Do you have input about this article? Tell us about it. More AI Technologies at IMTS 2026AI Management ToolsAI Maintenance ToolsAI Inspection TechnologiesAI Robotics TechnologiesExplore 79 Automation Solutions at IMTS 2026Further Reading:11 Ways to Jump In, Connect, and Experience More at IMTS 2026From Concept to Capability: Manufacturing Moves Faster at IMTS 2026Industrial AI Finds Its Niche at IMTS 20265 Vision System Technologies To Explore at IMTS 2026
Explore six AI-enabled tools for generative design, CAD, CAM, process simulation, CAE, and CFD at IMTS 2026.
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