Tag
AI
13 articles filed under AI.
Firmware testing for hardware prototypes: HIL test benches, automation, and AI-generated test cases
Firmware that works on your desk can still lock up when the battery sags, the radio drops, or an update is cut off halfway. Firmware testing is how you find that before a user does. Here is how we layer firmware tests on a hardware prototype, when a HIL test bench is worth building, how to automate it, and where AI-generated test cases genuinely help.
Read more: Firmware testing for hardware prototypes: HIL test benches, automation, and AI-generated test cases
AI CAD Agents Just Got Real for Hardware Prototypes in 2026: What Founders Should Do Next
For founders and product teams turning drawings, scans or AI concepts into a physical prototype. What changed in the first week of November 2026, what AI CAD agents actually deliver, and the checklist to run before you print or fab.
Read more: AI CAD Agents Just Got Real for Hardware Prototypes in 2026: What Founders Should Do Next
Test fixture design for prototypes and pilot builds: how we do it, and where AI helps
A prototype that works once on a bench is not the same as twenty units that pass the same test the same way. Test fixture design is how you get there. Here is how we decide whether a prototype needs a fixture, how we design functional, pogo pin and bed-of-nails fixtures, what 3D printing is good for, and where AI genuinely helps.
Read more: Test fixture design for prototypes and pilot builds: how we do it, and where AI helps
EU AI Act 2026: What AI Hardware Founders Should Build Into the Prototype Now
For founders and product teams building physical products with AI inside, from voice devices and companion robots to smart toys and machinery. What the 2026 AI Omnibus changed, which EU AI Act dates apply to your product, and what to design into the prototype now.
Read more: EU AI Act 2026: What AI Hardware Founders Should Build Into the Prototype Now
Dfmea for a first prototype: a design fmea walkthrough, and where AI helps
A design FMEA is the cheapest place to break your product. Run on a first prototype, it tells you which failures matter, what to change before the next build, and which tests the prototype must pass. Here is how we run a DFMEA for prototypes using the AIAG-VDA steps, why Action Priority beats a simple RPN, and where AI genuinely speeds it up.
Read more: Dfmea for a first prototype: a design fmea walkthrough, and where AI helps
Robotics product development: from first prototype to product, with simulation and AI
A robot is a mechanical product, an electronics product, and a software product at the same time, and often an AI product too. Here is how robotics product development moves from a first robotic arm prototype to something you can build, test, certify, and sell, where simulation and AI genuinely save time, and where only real hardware can give you the answer.
Read more: Robotics product development: from first prototype to product, with simulation and AI
Engineering design review: a prototype checklist, and where AI helps
An engineering design review is the checkpoint where a team stops, shows its work, and decides whether a design is ready for the next prototype, the next spend, or the next gate. Here is how to prepare one, a checklist you can reuse, and an honest look at where AI can speed up the review and where an engineer still has to sign off.
Read more: Engineering design review: a prototype checklist, and where AI helps
FDA General Wellness Guidance 2026: How to Prototype an AI Health Wearable Without Becoming a Medical Device
For founders and product teams building AI-powered fitness, sleep and recovery wearables. What FDA's January 2026 general wellness update changed, where the line to a regulated medical device now sits, and how to build validation, claims and firmware into the first prototype.
Read more: FDA General Wellness Guidance 2026: How to Prototype an AI Health Wearable Without Becoming a Medical Device
AI Tools for Hardware Prototyping in 2026: What Actually Works in CAD, PCB Layout, Firmware, and Simulation
For founders and product teams turning an idea into a working prototype. Here is where AI genuinely saves time in 2026 (converting geometry, routing boards, writing and debugging firmware, setting up simulations), where an engineer still has to own the result, and a checklist for putting AI into your prototype workflow without losing control of the design.
Read more: AI Tools for Hardware Prototyping in 2026: What Actually Works in CAD, PCB Layout, Firmware, and Simulation
Medical Device Manufacturing: Design Transfer, Validation and What It Costs
A released design is not a manufacturable device. Here is what happens between design freeze and the first validated lot, and what drives the cost of each unit.
Read more: Medical Device Manufacturing: Design Transfer, Validation and What It Costs
Tech Talk E14: Saving a Life of Kids and Animals Left in Cars, New Materials for Solar Panels, a New Type of Band-Aid
A simple, life-saving device. A solar panel that is "alive". All that and more in today's version of. . .LA NPDT Tech Talk.
Read more: Tech Talk E14: Saving a Life of Kids and Animals Left in Cars, New Materials for Solar Panels, a New Type of Band-Aid
Phone Case Manufacturers: How to Choose, Tooling and Costs
Comparing phone case manufacturing routes, tooling costs, minimum order quantities and the drop-test data buyers should ask for.
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Robotic Process Automation in Manufacturing: Use Cases and ROI
RPA automates the paperwork around production, not the production itself. Here are the use cases that pay back, what bots cost, and where RPA fails.
Read more: Robotic Process Automation in Manufacturing: Use Cases and ROI