The EEcosystem Podcast

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.

Zenode Website: https://zenode.ai/

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0:00 Introduction to AI in engineering

0:53 Understanding Zenode

3:28 The evolution of AI tools

7:40 Defining the role of engineering judgment

13:21 Practical power supply use case 23:10 Optimizing research workflows

27:43 Addressing AI skepticism

34:20 Learning and future outlook

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.

What You'll Learn

-Where engineering silos create risk

-How connected workflows help

-Why good engineering data matters for AI

-AI-augmented vs. AI-driven engineering

-How simulation can reduce costly physical iterations

Attend Keysight Design Forum: August 26, 2026 Huntsville, AL

Learn More and Register: https://tinyurl.com/4hd8d63a

Attend Keysight Design Forum: September 24, 2026, Santa Clara, CA

Learn More and Register: https://tinyurl.com/yrvb4e4k

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.

CELUS and Siemens EDA have partnered to bridge that early, "fuzzy" stage of concept design into the traditional schematic, layout, and manufacturing flow. Toby and Matt talk about how agentic AI is compressing the design flow, from comparing datasheets and selecting components to running simulations, while the architecture and the judgment calls stay firmly with the engineer. They also talk about how agentic AI is now working across toolsets. Engineers can ask a question in one platform and have it orchestrated across another, without all the manual handoffs, file conversions, and integration work that used to eat up so much time and introduce design risks. 

00:00 — Introductions Toby and Matt introduce themselves and how the CELUS/Siemens EDA partnership came together.

01:17 — Why CELUS and Siemens EDA partnered The gap between early concept design and traditional engineering tool chains, and how the two platforms connect ideation to schematic, layout, and manufacturing.

04:20 — The real bottlenecks in modern design Why comparing datasheets and chip selection can eat weeks of engineering time, and how a non-linear design process creates constant rework.

07:59 — Where AI is already delivering real value Extracting models and data from datasheets, evaluating BOM choices against manufacturability and lead time, and using AI to interpret simulation results.

11:35 — Inside agentic architecture Toby explains the shift from single LLM assistants to full agentic systems, including guardrail agents, review agents, and orchestration across multiple tools, including agents that hand off work between CELUS and Siemens EDA without the engineer manually reconnecting the two.

17:54 — Does the engineer stay in control? I push Toby and Matt directly on whether AI is encroaching on architecture and design judgment. The answer is still no, and they explain why.

19:39 — Walking the design journey, start to finish Toby and Matt trace a real workflow: describing design intent in natural language, generating an initial architecture, comparing multiple approaches, and handing off an electrically correct design into Siemens EDA tools for simulation, layout, and DFM.

28:19 — Who holds the judgment Why the designer still drives architecture and intent, and how agentic tools add robustness rather than replace decision-making.

35:00 — The hard question about jobs I ask the question our listeners won't forgive me for skipping: didn't software engineers lose jobs when AI hit? Toby and Matt respond with the historical parallel to compilers, high-level languages, and past technology hype cycles.

40:46 — What's next Toby and Matt preview upcoming agentic capabilities across both platforms and how you can start exploring the tools yourself.

The engineer remains the design intent and architecture. Agentic AI is built to take the manual grind out of design, the spreadsheets, the datasheet comparisons, the repetitive tool-switching, so engineers can spend more of their time on the judgment calls, the creativity, and the innovation that only they can bring.

Siemens EDA: 

To learn more about Xpedition and PCB Design

For a 30-day trial of Xpedition Standard with powered-by-CELUS integration

Matt Bromley on LinkedIn

CELUS: 

CELUS Website

CELUS Platform

Tobias Pohl on LinkedIn

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. I

n 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. This helps engineering teams verify designs faster and with greater accuracy and confidence.

Learn more at https://Signaledgesolutions.com

Join The Engineering EEcosystem for free resources for professional engineers, including our FREE online SI Masterclasses by Dr Eric Bogatin. https://theeecosystem.com

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:

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.

🔗 Learn more about KiCad: https://www.kicad.org

Connect with Seth Hillbrand

The EEcosystem helps professional electronics engineers stay ahead through expert interviews, masterclasses, technical articles, and practical engineering education covering PCB design, signal integrity, RF, embedded systems, advanced packaging, AI, and emerging technologies.

Subscribe for new episodes every week. https://theeecosystem.com

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#KiCad #PCBDesign #EDA #ElectronicsEngineering #HardwareEngineering #OpenSource #Engineering #AI #PrintedCircuitBoard #TheEEcosystem

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 — 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 will 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.

In this episode of The EEcosystem Podcast, Judy Warner sits down with David Schild of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA) for a timely, high-impact conversation about the future of U.S. PCB manufacturing. David shares insights on The New Frontier, a new documentary spotlighting the human stories behind America’s PCB industry and the urgent need to reshore domestic manufacturing.

Together, they unpack why PCBs are critical infrastructure—powering everything from AI data centers to national defense—and why rebuilding this ecosystem is essential for innovation, security, and workforce development.  If you care about the future of electronics, national security, and sustainable engineering careers, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

👉 Watch The New Frontier documentary 

👉 Learn more about PCBAA and how to get involved 

👉 Connect with David Schild and follow the movement 

In this special DesignCon 2026 Kick-Off edition, Stephen Slater of Keysight joins Judy Warner to discuss all the activities Keysight is offering on this year's conference. He highlights Keysight's NPI that will be featured at this year's show, Chiplet 3D Interconnect Designer which will be showcased in their booth. See the links below to tap into the full spectrum of technology highlights included in this year's "Superbowl of Electronics."

DesignCon Resource Hub | Keysight https://www.keysight.com/us/en/lib/events/seminars/designcon-resource-hub.html

Keysight Unveils 3D Interconnect Designer for Chiplet and 3DIC Advanced Package Designs | Keysight https://www.keysight.com/us/en/about/newsroom/news-releases/2026/0217-pr-26-035-keysight-unveils-3d-interconnect-designer-for-chiplet-and-3dic-advanced-package-designs.html

Article: High-speed digital design frontier with Keysight’s Hee-Soo Lee https://semiwiki.com/eda/366688-on-the-high-speed-digital-design-frontier-with-keysights-hee-soo-lee/