I’ve been interested in learning how to design PCBs, I wonder if this tech helps constrain the set of things one ought to focus on learning, with the assumption that AI can fill in other areas.
I love teaching PCB design! As with you, I'm also really curious about AI's contributions to learning. My opinion is that the automation of search and execution increases the impact one person can make so more time can be spent on connecting the dots at a higher level. Whether or not education catches up in time is another story haha.
It's pretty open ended right now but it's undeniable that a huge educational gap there.
This is what's been holding me back from PCB design. Like, I know the math, but there's forces at play beyond just V1/R1=V2 kinda stuff. I'm really keen to see if an LLM can assist a hobbyist in making sound, quality, designs that aren't going to break his/her wallet when the sheet comes in and none of it works.
About 12 years ago I designed an RF addon board for an RC car (to toggle lights). Even something as simple as switching with NPN transistors looks good on the bench software but when the chips came it didn't work at all. Did I mistakenly ask for PNP? Ugh! I used fritzing at first (still great software) and then upgraded to Eagle. I want to do something beyond Raspberry Pi/Arduino work but not quite ready to design my own radio/motherboard. I know electricity but I don't know why I would need a capacitor/resistor/transformer other than the very basics.
What resources would you recommend since you love to teach PCB design?
This XSeries on edX [0] looks promising for some of the prerequisite knowledge. Then for PCB design specifically, there are specialty courses on Udemy, for example, "KiCad Like a Pro" [1].