Sergey Antonovich, an embedded systems engineer at autonomous-vehicle developer Avride, is finding an unexpected harmony between his work on self-driving cars and a passion for building bespoke digital accordions. Antonovich, who designs sensor systems for autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, discovered that the principles underlying both technologies share surprising similarities, bridging the gap between the road and the stage.
From Moscow to Musical Innovation
Antonovich's journey began in Chekhov, a small town outside Moscow. After rediscovering his childhood accordion, he saw an opportunity to apply his electronics knowledge to improve the instrument. "Both systems, self-driving cars and accordions, are real-time embedded systems," Antonovich told IEEE Spectrum. He started building custom devices, integrating synthesizers, internal microphones, and wireless transmitters into acoustic accordions, transforming them into self-contained, stage-ready instruments.
Antonovich's early interest in electronics was sparked in after-school classes where he learned to solder and build simple electronic systems. He then enrolled at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in 2004. Antonovich originally planned to become a software developer but quickly fell in love with hardware. Toward the end of his degree studies, in 2009, Antonovich started working for Moscow-based Ecosfera, a company focused on environmental and labor-safety measurement devices.
Autonomous Vehicles and Accordions: A Shared Language
The engineer notes a critical parallel: real-time processing. He emphasizes that a digital accordion must rapidly translate the musician's finger movements into sound, mirroring the speed at which an autonomous vehicle must process sensor data to avoid obstacles. "Your main task as a developer is to keep latency as low as possible," he says. Antonovich says that both jobs deal with digital signals, ensuring systems react to input almost instantaneously.
Antonovich now works primarily on the data that feed the vehicle’s perception algorithms, which includes radar and lidar. According to Antonovich, both kinds of sensors have strengths and weaknesses—radar has long range but low resolution, while lidar is great at picking out shapes but only up to a certain distance—so the algorithmic perception system combines the data. Antonovich’s job is to build the diagnostic systems that ensure these sensors are working in perfect synchrony and deliver data within tight time limits.
A Maker's Paradise
Since moving to the United States in 2024, Antonovich says that he feels as though he is in a maker's paradise. "As a maker, I would say [the United States] is a paradise,” he says. “Electronic components are very accessible. You just order them and they arrive very quickly and everything just works.” Antonovich has taken full advantage of this to dive into his other passion—building musical instruments. While he's built accordions for friends, he has no plans to commercialize his hobby, fearing it would transform his passion into an obligation. Instead, Antonovich continues to explore the intersection of engineering and music, finding that the principles underlying complex systems can find expression in the most unexpected of places. The Verge notes this story as "a testament to the interdisciplinary nature of modern engineering."