Host Sera Evcimen welcomes Kristen Edwards, CTO and co-founder of Pensa Technologies and PhD candidate at MIT, for a deep dive into the intersection of artificial intelligence and hardware engineering. Kristen shares her expertise on AI-driven solutions for manufacturing, the challenges of integrating AI into engineering workflows, and the future of design and manufacturing.

Key Topics Covered:

• Kristen’s background: AI, engineering, and manufacturing research at MIT and Pensa Technologies.
• The evolving role of AI in engineering: from automating tedious tasks to enabling new forms of design iteration and optimization.
• Trust and explainability in AI: When to trust AI outputs, the importance of data governance, and the need for human oversight.
• Data privacy and security: Foundation models, federated learning, and inference-time techniques for protecting intellectual property.
• The gap between academic research and industry application: Real-world constraints, manufacturing realities, and the importance of context.
• Organizational and social challenges: Why successful AI adoption requires both technical and cultural change.
• Exciting AI tools and companies: From generative CAD to defect detection in manufacturing, including shoutouts to Onshape, 1000 Kelvin, and Bucket Robotics.
• White spaces and future opportunities: Design-manufacturing interfaces, spatial reasoning, and capturing engineering intuition.
• Lightning round: The future of engineering jobs, the irreplaceable value of human creativity and empathy, and the importance of adapting to new technologies.

Actionable Takeaways:

• Track not just engineering decisions, but the reasoning behind them, this is key for effective AI integration.
• Data management is foundational: Know where your data lives, how it’s labeled, and how it can be used to train or inform AI.
• Embrace AI as a “co-pilot” to augment, not replace, human expertise, especially for creative and high-consequence tasks.
• Be proactive about upskilling and adapting to new tools; engineers who leverage AI will have a competitive edge.
• The hardware world is full of opportunities for software talent, collaboration is needed to drive the next wave of innovation.

Sponsors & Resources:

• Onshape: Cloud-native product development platform. Apply for the Onshape Startup Program at onshape.pro/thebuildercircle.
• Jiga: Direct access to vetted manufacturers for reliable hardware sourcing. Learn more at jiga.io.
• Companies mentioned: 1000 Kelvin (AI for metal additive manufacturing), Bucket Robotics (AI for defect detection), Auto PCB (automated PCB design), Monolith (AI for test data analysis).

Connect & Learn More:

• Follow the show’s Substack for hardware tools, frameworks, and tips.
• Reach out to thebuildercircle@pratikdev.com if you have problems or ideas there are innovators ready to help!

Music by: Tom Stoke

DISCLAIMER "The Builder Circle” and “Pratik Development LLC” are independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by any other company. All views expressed are solely those of the guests. Content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or any professional advice. Listeners are responsible for their own decisions and should consult qualified professionals. By listening, you agree we are not liable for any outcomes.