Introduction

Background

PartCAD was initially just an internal library in the OpenVMP project to maintain the blueprints of OpenVMP robots in a way that allows reconfiguring the blueprints based on the specific needs (parameters), and allows to maintain the bill of materials and all the necessary data to purchase the required parts.

The OpenVMP project has surfaced the need for an open source Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system that would use Git for collaboration on the designs themselves, the supplementary documentation and supplier information (and integration). To address that need PartCAD was published as a standalone framework to be used by any project.

Overview

PartCAD can be perceived as consisting of four parts:

  • PartCAD standards and conventions on how to maintain product information

  • The public repository of products created and maintained by the community based on the PartCAD standards and conventions

  • Tools that operate with public and private repositories for as long as they are maintained following the PartCAD standards and conventions

  • Libraries and frameworks to programmatically interact with product information in public and private PartCAD repositories

Detailed documentation on all of the above can be found in the ‘Design’ section.