FAQs
After the launch at the end of 2019, we’ve been amazed by the number of requests, questions, and comments that you’ve been sending our way! We want to thank you for your interest. Please find below answers to some of the most common comments and questions we’re getting. If there is anything else you’d like to know, please contact us at support@deeppcb.ai and we will answer each specific email we receive.
Are you doing this manually? I would bet you have humans in the
loop
Actually, DeepPCB™ is a fully-automated tool, currently in beta
version. Automation is possible thanks to Reinforcement Learning
(RL), an AI technology particularly suited for decision-making
problems: board games such as Chess or Go, logistics, mobility, or
PCB routing. At InstaDeep, we deploy RL systems in the real world
and work closely with hardware partners such as Nvidia (after a
rigorous technical evaluation, Nvidia upgraded us to preferred
partner, the highest status possible) and Intel (we’re part of
Intel’s AI Builder Program). We strongly believe that having no
humans in the loop is critical to accelerating PCB development
cycles. To show that DeepPCB™ is a true fully-automated system,
users can now access intermediary routing solutions. The user sees
how the AI system progressively increases the quality of its
routing as it learns to solve the user’s board.
version. Automation is possible thanks to Reinforcement Learning
(RL), an AI technology particularly suited for decision-making
problems: board games such as Chess or Go, logistics, mobility, or
PCB routing. At InstaDeep, we deploy RL systems in the real world
and work closely with hardware partners such as Nvidia (after a
rigorous technical evaluation, Nvidia upgraded us to preferred
partner, the highest status possible) and Intel (we’re part of
Intel’s AI Builder Program). We strongly believe that having no
humans in the loop is critical to accelerating PCB development
cycles. To show that DeepPCB™ is a true fully-automated system,
users can now access intermediary routing solutions. The user sees
how the AI system progressively increases the quality of its
routing as it learns to solve the user’s board.
This is an unsolved NP-hard problem. How much of DeepPCB™ is AI
hype? Does InstaDeep have a track record in this domain?
InstaDeep has built credibility in AI circles by innovating in
Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning (RL), specifically on
how to find good solutions to NP-Hard problems with AI. InstaDeep
has a track record of publishing cutting-edge AI research in that
specific domain at top AI conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, and
ICLR (https://www.instadeep.com/research/papers ). InstaDeep also has expertise in productizing AI and RL
research. DeepPCB™ is an example but one can also mention
DeepPack™ (https://www.deeppack.ai ) or InstaDeep’s long-term collaboration with Deutsche Bahn,
which is on its way to revolutionizing the railway industry in
Germany, using Deep Reinforcement Learning (https://digitale-schiene-deutschland.de/en/AI-prototyping).
Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning (RL), specifically on
how to find good solutions to NP-Hard problems with AI. InstaDeep
has a track record of publishing cutting-edge AI research in that
specific domain at top AI conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, and
ICLR (https://www.instadeep.com/research/papers ). InstaDeep also has expertise in productizing AI and RL
research. DeepPCB™ is an example but one can also mention
DeepPack™ (https://www.deeppack.ai ) or InstaDeep’s long-term collaboration with Deutsche Bahn,
which is on its way to revolutionizing the railway industry in
Germany, using Deep Reinforcement Learning (https://digitale-schiene-deutschland.de/en/AI-prototyping).
What do you know about hardware?
We have significant domain expertise in Hardware and Electronic
Design Automation (EDA): several of our team members have worked
many years in companies such as STMicroelectronics, NXP, Dialog,
Sagem etc. We believe it’s an exciting time to be working on PCB
design automation, and because we have both AI and Hardware
expertise, we could be well positioned to do so.
Design Automation (EDA): several of our team members have worked
many years in companies such as STMicroelectronics, NXP, Dialog,
Sagem etc. We believe it’s an exciting time to be working on PCB
design automation, and because we have both AI and Hardware
expertise, we could be well positioned to do so.
What are you doing with my data? Are you going to sell it to
competitors? If it’s free am I not the product?
InstaDeep will never share or sell any of your data to any outside
entity. Our sole goal is to accelerate your PCB product
development cycle. For now we have released a free beta version
but we’re working on a commercial version to tackle larger and
more complex boards. We anticipate keeping a free version to make
it easier for hobbyists to design their boards.
entity. Our sole goal is to accelerate your PCB product
development cycle. For now we have released a free beta version
but we’re working on a commercial version to tackle larger and
more complex boards. We anticipate keeping a free version to make
it easier for hobbyists to design their boards.
Why does it take 24 hours? Results are so-so. Is something
wrong?
DeepPCB™ is truly an innovative platform. To get results, it
actually needs to spend time learning how to solve your board. The
learning process is the fundamental difference between our system
and others, and while 24 hours might appear long and inefficient,
it won’t seem that way when we release upgraded versions of our
platform that tackle more complex boards (we’re still in beta). As
discussed before and to illustrate the automated learning taking
place, we now release intermediary snapshots of the intermediary
solutions the system generates during the 24h period.
actually needs to spend time learning how to solve your board. The
learning process is the fundamental difference between our system
and others, and while 24 hours might appear long and inefficient,
it won’t seem that way when we release upgraded versions of our
platform that tackle more complex boards (we’re still in beta). As
discussed before and to illustrate the automated learning taking
place, we now release intermediary snapshots of the intermediary
solutions the system generates during the 24h period.
Auto routers have been there for ages and they’re useless anyway, so why are you doing this?
That’s the whole point, auto routers don’t get the job done properly because the problem is too difficult for the heuristics typically used by current software. This also explains why many boards are still designed manually. It makes sense that AI could improve things here and our product is a world-first: nobody made publicly available a fully-automated, pure AI product on the market until we did.
Routing at the end of the day is limited. The hardest part of PCB routing is Placement, do you plan to add Placement?
Indeed! We are also working on PCB placement for DeepPCB™. Depending on our early customers’ interest, we will tweak our roadmap to put more weight on developing placement. You can refer to our release live stream (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea5i-l8YKQo).
I have exhausted the initial maximum number of boards for the free version because I wanted to see how the routing would be. Can you do something for me?
We periodically review credits based on demand to accommodate as many users as possible. If you would like more credits or have any questions, please contact us at support@deeppcb.ai.
DeepPCB™ is not good enough and/or misses some key features that I need. What’s the whole point?
Please keep in mind that we’re in early beta, and that our service is free. Even though we have for now some limitations on the type of boards we currently support, our goal is to hear from you to iterate and improve the product quickly. Things might break from time to time and we’ll certainly make mistakes. What matters to us is to work hard and make progress on this exciting problem. We believe it’s the combination of hardware domain expertise and advanced AI know-how that yields strong results. If you have comments or would like us to improve/integrate specific features, please do not hesitate to reach out at support@deeppcb.ai we’d love to hear from you!