Students Tackle PCB Design Challenge: From Schematic to Robot

Zachariah Peterson
|  Created: September 17, 2025  |  Updated: January 18, 2026
Students Tackle PCB Design Challenge: From Schematic to Robot

University of Minnesota students share their journey designing custom PCBs for the Bright Manufacturing Challenge. Watch as electrical and mechanical engineering students Ethan Chung, Kevin Vo, and Alexander Wan discuss their line-following robot project, from initial schematics to flex-rigid PCB manufacturing. This inspiring episode of the OnTrack Podcast reveals how young engineers learn PCB design through hands-on competition experience.

Discover the challenges these students faced when transitioning from theoretical schematics to real-world printed circuit board layouts. Learn about their innovative flex-rigid PCB solution for encoder positioning, power management strategies, and the valuable lessons learned from their first manufacturing attempt. Their story demonstrates that diving into PCB design with determination and the right resources can lead to impressive engineering achievements.

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About Author

About Author

Zachariah Peterson has an extensive technical background in academia and industry. He currently provides research, design, and marketing services to companies in the electronics industry. Prior to working in the PCB industry, he taught at Portland State University and conducted research on random laser theory, materials, and stability. His background in scientific research spans topics in nanoparticle lasers, electronic and optoelectronic semiconductor devices, environmental sensors, and stochastics. His work has been published in over a dozen peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and he has written 2500+ technical articles on PCB design for a number of companies. He is a member of IEEE Photonics Society, IEEE Electronics Packaging Society, American Physical Society, and the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA). He previously served as a voting member on the INCITS Quantum Computing Technical Advisory Committee working on technical standards for quantum electronics, and he currently serves on the IEEE P3186 Working Group focused on Port Interface Representing Photonic Signals Using SPICE-class Circuit Simulators.

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