Autodesk cements Robobat deal

Design software firm Autodesk is buying French engineering software firm Robobat for US$33million in cash in a move to help it provide a more complete set of services to the structural engineering community, it announced this month.

Robobat, a privately-held company, provides software for structural engineering analysis, design and steel and concrete detailing.

Autodesk said it plans to offer new products that combine the technologies of the two companies as well as continuing to support Robobat’s existing product line.

“We are pleased to welcome Robobat, their industry-leading software and technology and their community of customers to Autodesk,” said Jay Bhatt, vice president, Autodesk Building Solutions.

“As we enhance our comprehensive solutions for structural engineering, Autodesk remains committed to supporting our customer’s choice of structural analysis and detailing software,” he stated. “We will continue to support open data exchange standards and to work closely with our strategic structural engineering partners to support the many different ways that structural engineers around the world use software to work and realise their ideas, ” Bhatt emphasised.

Robobat, a leading supplier of software solutions for the structural engineering industry, was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Grenoble, France.

Its software has been used by structural engineers around the world on projects including the Stade de France stadium, the proposed Shanghai South Rail Station and the new hangar for the Airbus A380 aircraft.

The two firms were already closely linked. Robobat ROBOT Millennium, a structural analysis and design solution for structural engineering, has been integrated with Autodesk’s Revit Structure software product, which is used for building information modeling.

Robobat has also developed steel and concrete detailing software on the AutoCAD platform.

“Robobat and Autodesk share a vision for building information modeling (BIM) and the use of information technology for structural engineering,” revealed Andre Niznik, CEO, Robobat. “We are excited to join Autodesk and are confident that both Autodesk and Robobat customers will benefit from this acquisition,” he remarked.