EEcosystem Podcast Episodes

If you tried AI 2-3 years ago with unsophisticated, error-prone LLMs, Collin Stoner says it’s time to look again. In this episode, Judy Warner talks with Collin, an electrical engineer and co-founder of Zenode.ai, about the shift from one-shot answers to agents that can search, use tools, and work in parallel. Collin shows how that change is reshaping an engineer’s day: agents can surface details buried deep in datasheets and compare hundreds of components, while the engineer spends more time innovating, testing ideas, weighing tradeoffs, and making design decisions. They also openly discuss where AI still falls short, why engineering judgment matters, and how newer engineers can use these tools to learn rather than skip the learning.

AI is already transforming hardware engineering. In this episode, Judy Warner and AllSpice.io co-founder and CEO Valentina Ratner explore where AI belongs in the workflow and where it doesn’t. They discuss AI-assisted design reviews, deterministic automation, agent-to-agent workflows, trustworthy data, measurable ROI, and why engineering judgment and final approval must remain firmly in human hands.

In this episode, Judy Warner talks with Roberto Piacentini, an electrical engineer with 30+ years of experience and now Director of Global Marketing for Design Engineering Software at Keysight Technologies, about what he considers the most expensive engineering mistake, why growing design complexity is raising the stakes, and how to avoid these costly issues. They explore connected workflows, engineering silos, simulation, data, and AI-augmented tools (keeping engineers in control and putting AI in the human loop, and how these technologies can help engineers make better decisions across the design lifecycle.

AI is everywhere in the headlines right now, but is it actually doing anything positive for engineers? Or is it just going to take jobs and produce less competent engineers by putting everything on autopilot? I sat down with Tobias Pohl, Co-Founder and CEO of CELUS, and Matt Bromley, VP of Product Strategy for Siemens EDA, to try to get past the hype and talk honestly about what agentic AI is actually changing, from early concept and ideation all the way through the PCB design process, and just as importantly, what it's not changing--like keeping engineers squarely in the drivers seat.

As AI, data centers, aerospace, and advanced computing continue pushing bandwidth and power requirements to new extremes, DDR memory compliance has become one of the biggest bottlenecks in high-speed digital design. In this episode, Judy Warner is joined by Ben Dannan, Founder of Signal Edge Solutions, and Tyler Huddleston, SI/PI Engineer of SES, to explore why traditional DDR compliance workflows can consume days or weeks of engineering time, produce false positives, and slow product development. They also demonstrate how their new software, Mem Check Pro, automates JEDEC compliance analysis, including setup/hold, crossing points, slew rate, and commonly skipped checks like clock monotonicity and VIX, in just a few minutes, helping engineering teams verify designs faster and with greater accuracy and confidence.

Many engineers still think of KiCad as a hobbyist PCB design tool. That perception is changing. In this episode, Judy Warner sits down with Seth Hillbrand, lead KiCad developer and founder of KiCad Services Corporation, to discuss how KiCad has evolved into a professional EDA platform trusted by startups, aerospace companies, research organizations, and enterprise engineering teams. You'll learn: -Why more professional engineers are choosing KiCad -How open-source EDA compares to commercial tools -Why preserving design intent and long-term IP matters -How KiCad's architecture is enabling the next generation of AI-powered -PCB design -Seth's perspective on using AI to make engineers more effective—not replace them Whether you're evaluating new PCB design tools or simply curious about the future of electronic design automation (EDA), this conversation offers an inside look at one of the fastest-growing platforms in the industry.

AI is starting to take on real work in PCB design, but engineering teams still want and need to stay in control of the process. In this episode, Judy Warner talks with Sergiy Nesterenko, founder of Quilter, about how their AI-powered layout tool has evolved over the past year. They discuss keeping designers in control through custom constraints, lessons learned from laying out Quilter's own NXP i.MX8 board, building trust with engineering teams and their downstream customers, and how physics-based verification, including a new signal-integrity integration with Simbeor, is helping to close the gap between solid engineering skill, automation, and real-world reliability.

In this episode, Judy Warner sits down with Colin Stoner, co-founder of Zenode (zenode.ai) and a veteran electrical engineer with 250+ unique board designs under his belt. Colin shares how he turned years of real-world frustrations and endless datasheet digging, pinout copying, power budgeting, and last-minute alternate part hunts into an AI-powered component intelligence platform that actually delivers results for hardware engineers. If you’re tired of AI hype that doesn’t translate to real workflow wins in electronics design, this conversation may restore your faith. Discover how Zenode combines specialized data, engineering context, and modern AI to automate the boring but critical tasks so you can focus on actual design work.