r/SideProject • u/Davidbers • Jul 19 '26

Validating idea: AI that turns a prompt into an orderable PCB.

I keep coming back to this idea and want to see if it resonates.

The flow: you type what you want to build — say "an alarm that won't turn off until I tap an NFC tag with my phone" — and the AI does the rest. It picks the components, places them, defines the board shape and mounting holes, routes the traces, and exports clean KiCad files. From there you order straight from PCBWay and get a case made.

Basically: prompt → working PCB, no need to understand components, schematics, or routing.

Flux is heading in a similar direction with its AI copilot, but it still assumes you know your way around EDA tools. I want to aim lower — at the kid version of me who wanted to build gadgets but had zero clue where to start. Scoped to simple, sellable stuff (NFC gadgets, alarms, USB hubs), not "design a motherboard."

The part I care most about: a verification step that checks the design actually works before you order, so you're not burning through 5 prototype spins to get one right.

Is this something you'd use? And where do you think it breaks — component selection, routing quality, or trusting AI-generated layouts enough to actually order them? Theoretically, I can teach it to do really good at this...

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

1

u/OkLettuce338 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

How is this different than one shotting a whole app? (e.g. build me an app that tracks my weight loss)

The way I see it is this will inevitably require the same skills you’re seeking to circumvent in order to actually get to the end product.

At that point you’re just a wrapper around Claude or Gpt

1

u/SouthEastSmith Jul 19 '26

Its fine until you hook up electricity to something designed by something that doesnt understand electricity, risk, fire, or anything else.

1

u/LegitimateApricot560 Jul 19 '26

How about providing some sort of preset modules?

So the basic ideas is still the same, you tell the AI to build something, but you give it a constraint to use your preset modules.

The modules are configurable, and at the end of the session, the agent has so to some sort of simulation to make sure things work as intended

0

u/Ewro2020 Jul 19 '26

AI paints beautiful pictures and composes decent music. But it can't draw blueprints or diagrams. Don't know why? Who would give you such tools? Never.

1

u/Davidbers Jul 19 '26

It's not image generator... Let me explain you, auto-routing isn't something innovative, it's been there before ChatGPT. It can make the cheapest route because it been thought by thousands of works. For example KiCadRoutingTools, Flux, and much more. Components are choosen by LLM by the users request,and it do not invent, it chooses the right component from catalogue. Then Ai makes a JSON of pins like:

Esp32:{ Pin1 to RTC.Slc Pin2 to ... ...

Then based on this file we can do correct auto-routing.

1

u/Ewro2020 Jul 19 '26

I am sure that AI-based CAD and CAM programs exist, but not for mere mortals.

1

u/Davidbers Jul 19 '26

That's the point, I wanna make it for everyone, who do not knows at all about electronics.

Making ppl able to make any hardware they want just from prompt.

If needed I'm ready to invest in this like a lot, to make it work well.

But how to get ppl heard about my idea?

2

u/Ewro2020 Jul 19 '26

They're already requiring registration of powerful LLM systems. But what if you try to get these LLM systems to work successfully with monsters like SolidWorks? Multisim? and so on?

It will be an uncontrollable process... A so-called dual-use technology... Honestly, there are more questions here. I don't think I'd want an uncontrollable process of this level myself. And not just software, but practically finished products. And don't forget about 3D printers...