Youtube videos star SolidWorks design software. And ‘Hot Rod Baby Buggy’

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., a French company with a big presence in Waltham, said it has just wrapped up a segment of a marketing campaign that uses a series of YouTube videos that highlight the collaborative features of the company’s product design software.

This effort, called “Let’s Go Design,” began well over a year ago, and the idea is to engage the computer-aided design community in thinking about how crowd-sourcing can be used in fun projects. SolidWorks said it uses social media to drive eyeballs to its Youtube videos, which, of course, feature SolidWorks software in a starring role. The videos can also be seen on the company’s website, a spokesman said.

The video series that just ended asked for feedback on designing a “hot-rod baby buggy” --- a buggy that would be a baby-safe all-terrain vehicle and that could operate on sidewalks. According to the company, every element of the final version of the motorized buggy --- with the exception of the bolts --- was designed using SolidWorks software.

“Crowd-sourcing is growing as a design philosophy, and the ‘Hot Rod Baby Buggy’ is a great example of how to succeed with collaborative design,” Jeremy Luchini, SolidWorks certification manager and “Let’s Go Design” team leader, said in a statement. “We got a lot of great ideas from our viewers and tackled some big challenges together, such as adhering the tank treads to the buggy.”

In December, Dassault Systèmes opened its new North American headquarters in Waltham, a move that brought 850 employees from Lowell and Concord to a 27-acre campus on the edge of Route 128.