When Sergey Antonovich revisited his childhood passion for music, he found a unique intersection between his career as an embedded systems engineer and crafting bespoke digital accordions. Antonovich, who grew up near Moscow, had a tumultuous relationship with the accordion, an instrument chosen for him by his mother at age eight. While he initially lost interest in his teenage years, a resurgence of curiosity in adulthood led him to explore the instrument’s capabilities through his engineering expertise.
Antonovich’s journey into the world of electronics began in earnest during his teenage years when he attended after-school classes focused on soldering and building simple electronic systems. These early experiences ignited a passion for technology that guided his career toward developing environmental monitoring devices, commercial drone sensors, and, most recently, autonomous vehicle systems at Avride, a company based in Austin, Texas.
From Electronics to Accordions
Reflecting on his childhood, Antonovich describes a typical upbringing in Chekhov, a small town outside Moscow. His father passed away when he was just one year old, leading his mother and grandmother to raise him. Despite his initial commitment to the accordion, Antonovich shifted his focus to electronics and engineering, ultimately enrolling in the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in 2004. He chose a curriculum that combined hardware, software, and digital signal processing, which laid the foundation for his future career.
After graduating in 2010, Antonovich began working at Ecosfera, a company dedicated to creating devices for environmental and labor safety. His role involved designing hardware and software for measuring variables like temperature and humidity. This work required navigating rigorous certification processes, marking the first significant achievement in his career.
In 2021, he transitioned to Yandex, where he contributed to the company’s autonomous vehicle program. The experience of witnessing a self-driving car in action left a profound impact. He noted, “You see it on YouTube, but it’s not such an inspiring experience. It’s really inspiring when you see it live.” Following a corporate restructuring, Yandex’s autonomous vehicle division became Avride, which allowed Antonovich to continue his work on vehicle sensor systems.
A Harmonious Blend of Skills
In his role at Avride, Antonovich focuses on developing the data that feed the vehicle’s perception algorithms, utilizing sensors such as radar and lidar. Each type of sensor has distinct advantages and disadvantages, necessitating a sophisticated algorithmic approach to combine their data effectively. His efforts ensure that these sensors operate seamlessly, delivering real-time data essential for the safe navigation of autonomous vehicles.
Despite his technical career, Antonovich’s musical journey took a pivotal turn in 2017 when he observed a new generation of digital accordions gaining popularity. Compelled by curiosity, he revived his old acoustic accordion and discovered that he could still play. This led him to tackle the limitations of commercial digital accordions, which often rely on cumbersome external modules and wired connections that restrict performers’ movements.
Determined to innovate, Antonovich began building a self-contained digital accordion. By integrating a synthesizer, internal microphones, and wireless transmitters, he created an instrument that allows musicians to perform freely on stage. He found surprising parallels between music performance and his engineering work in autonomous vehicles, particularly in managing latency within the signal-processing chain. “Your main task as a developer is to keep latency as low as possible,” he explained. “A high-quality system should produce sound in less than 10 milliseconds, and if you come over this threshold, it’s very uncomfortable to play.”
While Antonovich’s digital accordions have garnered interest from friends and fellow musicians, he has no immediate plans to commercialize his creations. “Making them a commercial product will turn my curiosity to necessity,” he remarked. “When you do something for a living, you do it because you have to and not because you choose to.”
Sergey Antonovich’s journey illustrates how passion and professional expertise can converge in unexpected ways, ultimately enriching both his career in technology and his love for music.
