3DEXPERIENCE World 2025: What Impact Will AI and Robotics Have on Humanity?

3DEXPERIENCE World 2025, the event organized by Dassault Systèmes that brings together thousands of professionals, designers, engineers, makers and creatives each year, has ended. This year it was held in Houston, Texas, February 23-26. 3DEXPERIENCE World is an opportunity to explore the latest innovations in the SOLIDWORKS ecosystem and address the central and most current issues related to 3D technologies. 3Dnatives attended the first two days of the event to bring you the latest news and highlights.

3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 saw a packed program with three days of lectures, announcements, live demonstrations and interaction with the public. There was also, as in previous editions, a Playground where the company and exhibitors could show live machines, solutions and applications, as well as interact with attendees. The feeling one gets from attending 3DEXPERIENCE World is undoubtedly that of being part of a community that shares passions and professional projects, and is always looking forward to meeting each other to bring about new synergies and discover all the latest news from the 3D world and beyond!

Manish Kumar, CEO of SOLIDWORKS recalled the celebration of 30 years since the first version of the software was launched in 1995.

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Take Center Stage

The leading themes of 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 were robotics and artificial intelligence. During the many lectures, top executives from Dassault Systèmes and SOLIDWORKS alternated with representatives from companies and users who use SOLIDWORKS and 3D technologies in their business. From an ice cream machine to humanoid robots, the applications are almost endless. This is exactly what Dassault Systèmes wanted to highlight: the use of 3D modeling combined with other skills and technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, or 3D printing can create cutting-edge, optimized products quickly and efficiently, as well as pave the way for exciting avant-garde projects.

In this regard, the first day of the event was undoubtedly one of the most interesting. Taking the stage at the first general conference were Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics and executive director of the Robotics & AI Institute, and Spot, the robot dog, among others. Raibert highlighted the varied and disparate uses that companies now make of Spot, demonstrating how robotics can solve real-world challenges: exploring complex, inaccessible or dangerous environments for humans, gathering information about the surrounding environment, are among the main ones.

Spot at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025

Marc Raibert also spoke about Atlas, the well-known humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics. As athletic as a human, Atlas is able to jump, run, and maintain balance, withstanding pushes and bumps without falling. Unlike Spot, it acts without human control, moving autonomously thanks to sensors and AI. Raibert emphasized that in a complex project like Atlas software and hardware are important to the same degree.

3D printing played a key role in this. Atlas, in fact, features a mixture of 3D printed parts made of titanium and aluminum that enabled the strength-to-weight ratio needed to perform jumps and somersaults. “Using integrated design, CAD design and 3D printing we were able to take an early version of Atlas that weighed about 350 pounds (158kg) and reduce it to this one that weighs about 160 pounds (89kg), with a height of 1.5m,” Raibert added.

Atlas opened a debate that lasted throughout the event on the possibilities and role of robotics, 3D technologies and AI in the future of humanity. According to a Morgan Stanley report, by 2050 the number of humanoid robots in the United States could reach 63 million. This is an impressive figure considering that humanoid development continues worldwide. How will they be used? To replace humans in the most repetitive and strenuous jobs, but also to make up for labor shortages in countries around the world that are experiencing declining birth rates or aging populations. These are just a few examples. What is certain, watching Atlas in action, is that this future, while frightening at times, no longer seems so distant.

Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot was made from 3D printed parts.

3D Printing at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025

If we analyze the role of 3D printing at the event, the technology was presented on stage several times this year. During the second day of the event, Aurora De Acutis, President of Bio3DPrinting company and Researcher at the University of Pisa, presented the Electrospider 3D bioprinter and its potential. This is the 3D bioprinter with the largest volume currently on the market, capable of printing 3D cellular constructs with as many as 5 different bioprinting techniques at scale.

If we look instead at the Playground and exhibition space, there were not many 3D printers present, but rather applications or projects. re:3D, a Texas-based manufacturer of large-format and affordable extrusion machines, showcased applications of their Gigabot machine in terms of reusing recycled plastic through pellets. In contrast, the booth of Texas service bureau Impac Systems Engineering featured parts printed with different materials and technologies, including LPBF, FDM, MJF. Finally, Anisoprint presented the new Anisoprint NOVA machine for continuous printing in carbon fiber or basalt at 3DEXPERIENCE World.

3D printing was undoubtedly present in the makers area, which this year highlighted the many possibilities of using SOLIDWORKS software for a variety of industries and applications. We talked about this with Chinloo Lama, User Experience Design Director at Dassault Systèmes and organizer of the Makers space at the event.

“This year we also wanted to give visibility to those applications that are seen less at events of this type, such as the use of SOLIDWORKS for the fashion world or for making creative projects. In addition, we wanted to stimulate makers by showing them the secrets of 3D printing and how they can use software and this technology to achieve remarkable results, such as parts with different functionalities or unusual and innovative designs,” she commented.

This space also undoubtedly highlighted the importance of diversity and inclusion in the field. Returning to the impact that digital technologies have on human life, Lama adds, “Robotics, AI, new technologies are likely to change our lives. If we think about the development of humanoids we understand how necessary it is that everyone, man, woman, each person has his or her role in building the future, and that everyone’s voice is heard, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

News Announced at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025

As every year, new features and updates to SOLIDWORKS 2025 CAD software were announced at the event. These include updates to speed up part design, including the ability to quickly select edges to be chamfered, the ability to copy assembly components with associated advanced and mechanical couplings. In addition, the creation of tables in drawings has been simplified with configuration tables and improvements about materials.

In addition, the event was also an opportunity to announce new partnerships. These included the partnership between Dassault Systèmes and KUKA, a global industrial automation and robotics company and one of the leading manufacturers of robotic arms used in additive manufacturing. Dassault Systèmes, with its 3DEXPERIENCE platform and applications, will become part of mosaixx, KUKA’s digital ecosystem for industrial software solutions. The purpose is to provide manufacturing industries with comprehensive solutions that meet the growing needs for robotics and automation.

Dassault Systèmes also announced a partnership with Apple to integrate the Apple Vision Pro augmented reality viewer into the next generation of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Thanks to the “3DLive” application for visionOS, virtual twins created on the platform will be able to leave the screen and appear in physical space. It will be possible to download Dassault Systèmes’ new 3DLive application for the Apple Vision Pro starting this summer.

3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 certainly highlighted the enormous transformative potential of the world of 3D technologies, showing both what is already possible and what can be. It was a landmark event for all 3D technology enthusiasts, showing Dassault Systèmes’ desire to drive innovation and inspire professionals and enthusiasts to use technology as an ally of man and in the service of progress.

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