Sneak peek: Electronics Forge, from a written brief to a routed PCB
Hi everyone,
This is a first look at the Autonomous Electronics engineer.
You give it a brief and it builds the board in stages: spec, block diagram, schematic, E-Sketch, layout, route, ECAD. Each stage is its own artifact you can open and inspect.
Our bold vision is for Everyone, regardless of their engineering know-how, to be able to create functional, manufacturable, multidisciplinary products using natural language - electronics, mechanical, controls and software/firmware. The same experience folks enjoy in tools like Lovable for vibe-coding, extended to complex, real-life systems.
We will continuously extend our part libraries for electronics and add specialized functions, like LED chip creation.
Soon we'll start a public PCB/chip library on our website, stay tuned.
What would you need to see before trusting a board you didn’t route yourself?
Replies
Let me see the manufacturing outputs before I commit: Gerbers, drill file, pick-and-place, and BOM with real distributor part numbers and stock. A pretty 3D render means nothing if the footprint is wrong.
Agreed, the render is the least important file in the package. What has to be right is the footprint, the courtyard and the actual part behind it, and the parts in the design carry real manufacturer part numbers (the MCP73831 and AP2112K on this board, for example). Would you want distributor stock checked while parts are being chosen, or only when you export for assembly?
Testability. Did it leave room for probe points, add test vias, and keep the debug header accessible? A board I can't bring up or measure is a board I can't trust.
On this one it planned for it from the schematic: there's a dedicated Debug, test & indicators sheet with a UART and boot header and three test points, and the header ends up on the board edge where you can reach it. How do you prefer test points on a board this size: a few labeled pads on top for a scope, or a bottom-side grid for a fixture?
My favorite feature so far. And another major step towards end-to-end autonomous engineering.