Building a physical product in the age of AI

What happens when a software developer decides to build a physical product?

In this session, Levi Rosol will share the story behind GridSmith—a modular tabletop terrain system that started as a personal frustration with existing products and evolved into a real business. Along the way, AI became much more than a coding assistant. It became a design partner, a CAD tutor, a rubber duck, a technical writer, a marketing assistant, and an endless source of ideas.

We'll explore the entire journey: identifying the problem worth solving, designing hundreds of iterations of a physical product, learning OpenSCAD through AI-assisted development, optimizing for 3D printing and manufacturing, building an e-commerce website through "vibe coding," and launching a product that people can actually buy.

This isn't a session about replacing developers with AI. It's about how modern AI tools dramatically lower the barrier between an idea and a finished product, allowing a single person to wear the hats of engineer, product designer, manufacturer, and entrepreneur.

Whether you're a developer, maker, or simply curious about what AI can enable, you'll leave with practical insights, honest lessons learned, and hopefully the confidence to start building that idea you've been putting off.

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Join us for the next DSM AI Group!
5:30 - 6:00 - Socializing/Networking
6:00 - Speaker begins