Our Story
We started by asking: Can AI models create KiCad files and other machine-readable EDA formats from printed circuit diagrams?
We naively assumed LLMs could just do this by now: point a model at an electronic troubleshooting guide for a classic BMW and have it create the files needed to build a modern troubleshooting tool.
They could, sort of. Just not in a repeatable, scalable, and reliable way.
We dove into the computer-vision science and existing research, ran experiments, and focused on a real customer problem instead of an academic one. That is where we found the secret sauce.
It turns out this is a very hard problem. LLMs are essential to solving it, but they are not enough.
A printed circuit diagram or service manual is not a model. It is a drawing, a dialect, and a set of instructions that almost match the old hardware that was deployed years ago, but is no longer supported.
The circuit on paper has lines that cross pages, fade, and change meaning by color. The maker's symbols and names are the map techs actually use, but don't clearly indicate how they work. How the wires and connectors fit together is obvious in the real world, but not from a paper manual.
Those sources disagree and omit. They were never meant to be joined.
The hard work is to perceive all of that, judge what is sure, and write a system a person and a tool can both trust; then stop where the evidence stops.
That is the Excaliwire factory. We call that reviewed model the factory canon.
We've proven the factory works in practice in the automotive realm, and we're expanding its application to other domains.
We're hiring AI-native builders who treat agents as the default path. Domain experience isn't the bar; how you build is. If that's you, click Join the team below.
If you have been trying to get AIs to convert electronic schematics into machine-readable EDA formats, and would like to try Excaliwire, the Join waitlist button will get you on the list. The more details you share about your use case, the higher you'll be on the list.
If you want Excaliwire, join the waitlist. If you want to join the team, send feedback.