205: Advances in Electronic Product Engineering Methods

Product Startup · 14 Dec 2023 · 23m

AI in practice: one real use of AI described

What this episode covers

Tomide Adesanmi, founder of Circuit Mind, explains how hardware startups are outpacing large corporations in electronics innovation by leveraging agile design processes and modern tools. He details the traditional electronic product development lifecycle, from requirements and component selection to schematic capture, PCB design, and multiple prototype iterations (EVT, DVT, PVT). Adesanmi highlights the archaic nature of legacy hardware engineering compared to software and introduces Circuit Mind’s platform, which uses deterministic algorithms to automate schematic generation and optimize designs for cost, power, and supply chain availability.

AI in practice

Where this conversation describes AI being used to build or deliver a product. Part of the AI in practice tracker.

DesignCircuit Mind1,000 times faster

The platform uses deterministic algorithms to automatically generate a completed schematic from a high-level block diagram, including component selection and analysis, speeding up the process by a claimed factor of 1,000.

“The platform will look at quintillions of potential design options. Check for compatibility. Check for all the addresses. Check for registers. All of that stuff. Connect the components together. Add all the supplementary components. Pull-ups, pull-ups, pull-downs the coupling capacitors, and get you an answer.”

Tomide Adesanmi · Hear it at 16:13

Mentioned

Companies
Circuit Mind, BAE Systems, Google, Mako Design, Digi Key, ST

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Moore's Lobby · 55m

    Freeing EEs to Design Like Tony Stark

    Tomide Adesanmi, co-founder and CEO of Circuit Mind, explains how his background designing head-worn displays for fighter pilots at BAE Systems revealed the inefficiencies of manual schematic design. He founded Circuit Mind to replace tedious spreadsheet work and datasheet searching with deterministic algorithms that generate optimized circuit schematics from block diagrams. Adesanmi details the platform's ability to explore millions of design combinations for cost, size, and power, positioning the tool as a 'circuit solver' that allows engineers to act as architects rather than manual drafters.

  • Moore's Lobby · 1h 00m

    JITX Aims to Provide Superpowers to Circuit Design Engineers

    Duncan Haldane, co-founder and CEO of JITX, explains how his company uses a code-based design flow to automate circuit board design, targeting senior engineers to make expert knowledge reusable and scalable. He discusses the transition from his background as a Guinness world-record-holding roboticist at Berkeley to building a tool that generates schematics and layouts from functional descriptions rather than manual drafting. Haldane details JITX's evolution from a DARPA-funded research project and design consultancy to a commercial product, emphasizing the importance of baking verification checks into component models to handle supply chain volatility and design complexity.

  • OnTrack · 44m

    Code-Based PCB Design with AI: Inside atopile

    Ioannis Papamanoglou and Narayan Powderly, co-founders of atopile, explain their code-based, AI-driven approach to PCB design, arguing that hardware has lagged behind software in tooling automation. They discuss how capturing engineering intent in code allows for deterministic design and seamless integration with tools like Altium Designer and LTspice, shifting the designer's role from boilerplate tasks to system architecture. The founders highlight the importance of connecting disconnected tools to improve supply chain resilience and firmware integration, while noting that the bottleneck for AI in hardware is orchestration rather than model capability.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 16m

    Pull The Trigger

    Dave Jones of EEVblog and Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics discuss the practical challenges of hardware development, including PCB design checklists, the shift to web-based CAD tools like Fusion 360 and Onshape, and the critical importance of cash flow management in manufacturing. Jones details his experience with the long lead times for his rebadged Bryman multimeter and the risks of inventory, while Gammell shares insights on prototyping, component sourcing, and the value of community meetups.

  • Predictable Designs Podcast · 20m

    15 Steps to Develop a New Electronic Hardware Product

    Host John Teel outlines a 15-step framework for developing new electronic hardware products, emphasizing the critical importance of early cost estimation and manufacturing feasibility. He details the progression from product definition and preliminary design to schematic capture, PCB layout, firmware development, and enclosure prototyping via 3D printing. The process concludes with iterative testing, debugging, and obtaining necessary electrical certifications like FCC and CE before mass production.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Product Startup. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.