Episode 128
I spoke with Sergiy Nesterenko about:
Developing an automated system for designing PCBs
Difficulties in human and automated PCB design
Building a startup at the intersection of different areas of expertise
By the way — I hit 40 ratings on Apple Podcasts (and am at 66 on Spotify). It’d mean a lot (really, a lot) if you’d consider leaving a rating or a review. I read everything, and it’s very heartening and helpful to hear what you think.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
Sergiy is founder and CEO of Quilter. Sergiy spent 5 years at SpaceX developing radiation-hardened avionics for SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy's second stage rockets, before discovering a big problem: designing printed circuit boards for all the electronics in these rockets was tedious, manual and error prone. So in 2019, he founded Quilter to build the next generation of AI-powered tooling for electrical engineers.
I spend a lot of time on this podcast—if you like my work, you can support me on Patreon :)
Reach me at editor@thegradient.pub for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions.
Subscribe to The Gradient Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pocket Casts | RSS
Follow The Gradient on Twitter
Outline:
(00:00) Intro
(00:45) Quilter origins and difficulties in designing PCBs
(04:12) PCBs and schematic implementations
(06:40) Iteration cycles and simulations
(08:35) Octilinear traces and first-principles design for PCBs
(12:38) The design space of PCBs
(15:27) Benchmarks for PCB design
(20:05) RL and PCB design
(22:48) PCB details, track widths
(25:09) Board functionality and aesthetics
(27:53) PCB designers and automation
(30:24) Quilter as a compiler
(33:56) Gluing social worlds and bringing together expertise
(36:00) Process knowledge vs. first-principles thinking
(42:05) Example boards
(44:45) Auto-routers for PCBs
(48:43) Difficulties for scaling to larger boards
(50:42) Customers and skepticism
(53:42) On experiencing negative feedback
(56:42) Maintaining stamina while building Quilter
(1:00:00) Endgame for Quilter and future directions
(1:03:24) Outro
Links:
Sergiy Nesterenko: Automating Circuit Board Design