Automating Circuit Board Design Using Reinforcement Learning w Sergiy Nesterenko, Founder of Quilter on Autopilot

Published: April 25, 2024, 9:31 a.m.

In this episode from the Autopilot podcast, Sergiy Nesterenko, founder of Quilter (backed by Benchmark), discusses designing PCB circuitboards end-to-end using reinforcement learning. "Autopilot" host Will Summerlin and Nesterenko cover how current PCB boards are designed and how Quilter\u2019s tech stack enables faster board design, what better circuit boards enable in the future, their GTM and where they are seeing most market pull right now, and much more.\n\nSubscribe to Autopilot:\nSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6YQZkKHN7EP2yWedAvSxBC?si=18377c69a2804333&nd=1&dlsi=18fee5e95b284d02\nApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autopilot-with-will-summerlin/id1738163836\nYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AutopilotwithWillSummerlin\n\nCheck out Nathan's new chatbot on www.cognitiverevolution.ai\n\nSPONSORS:\nThe Brave search API can be used to assemble a data set to train your AI models and help with retrieval augmentation at the time of inference. All while remaining affordable with developer first pricing, integrating the Brave search API into your workflow translates to more ethical data sourcing and more human representative data sets. Try the Brave search API for free for up to 2000 queries per month at https://bit.ly/BraveTCR\n\nOmneky is an omnichannel creative generation platform that lets you launch hundreds of thousands of ad iterations that actually work customized across all platforms, with a click of a button. Omneky combines generative AI and real-time advertising data. Mention "Cog Rev" for 10% off https://www.omneky.com/\n\nPlumb is a no-code AI app builder designed for product teams who care about quality and speed. What is taking you weeks to hand-code today can be done confidently in hours. Check out https://bit.ly/PlumbTCR for early access.\n\nHead to Squad to access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com/ and mention \u201cTurpentine\u201d to skip the waitlist.\n\n\nLINKS:\nQuilter: https://www.quilter.ai/\nAutopilot Ventures: https://www.apv.vc/\n\n\nX/SOCIAL:\n@labenz (Nathan)\n@WSummerlinAI (Will)\n@sergiynest (Sergiy)\n@quilterai (Quilter)\n\nTIMESTAMPS:\n(00:00) Intro & Sergiy\u2019s Background\n(04:31) What Sergiy learned from SpaceX\n(05:53) Founding thesis of Quilter and Quilter\u2019s journey\n(06:57) Where would one find circuit boards?\n(08:11) What is the process of designing a circuit board?\n(09:39) Design process today with Quilter\n(14:34) Sponsor: Omneky\n(16:01) Quilter\u2019s thesis and designing more complex circuits\n(18:25) How much are humans currently paid for board design\n(19:41) Labor dynamics in board design\n(20:30) Do most companies have board designers in-house?\n(21:14) Incentive structure\n(22:44) What does a high-performance circuit board look like vs low-performance?\n(26:37) Quilter\u2019s technology stack\n(29:15) Sponsor: Plumb | Squad\n(31:15) How Quilter can grow with scale?\n(33:50) Where is circuit manufacturing happening\n(37:17) What other parts of knowledge work can be solved with reinforcement learning\n(41:03) GTM and who Quilter is selling to\n(42:48) Pricing\n(44:04) Where Quilter is seeing the most market pull right now\n(45:21) What makes Quilter an exciting company to work at or invest\n(47:14) The effects of closed research in private companies for the industry\n(49:25) Open source vs closed source\n(51:14) What Sergiy would advise to himself in his early founder\n(53:59) What drew Sergiy to working with Benchmark\n(56:19) Wrap