GPU-Based Autorouting for KiCad
This project began when I decided it would be easier to write an autorouter than route a 8000+ net backplane by hand. This is a KiCad plugin with a few different algorithms, the coolest of which is a 'Manhattan routing grid' autorouter that routes along orthogonal traces. The basic idea was to steal an algorithm from FPGA routing and apply it to PCBs. I'm using CuPy for speeding up the routing; CPU-bound is at least 10x slower than the GPU version. This is in a very pre-alpha state, but it does _technically_ work. It's not great by any measure but then again it is an autorouter. I have a…
GPU-Based Autorouting for KiCad launched on October 29, 2025 with 8 votes, #1,955 of 8,178 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.
What it does
OrthoRoute: A GPU-accelerated PCB autorouter for KiCad - bbenchoff/OrthoRoute
In the maker’s words, at launch
This project began when I decided it would be easier to write an autorouter than route a 8000+ net backplane by hand. This is a KiCad plugin with a few different algorithms, the coolest of which is a 'Manhattan routing grid' autorouter that routes along orthogonal traces. The basic idea was to steal an algorithm from…
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