I built a physical AI assistant. The mistakes I made taught me so much that I ended up writing a book about the reality of prototyping.

Martin Kuboušek — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 18:16:02 +0000

Hi everyone,
I'm an IT student from the Czech Republic, and I recently finished building MARQIS — a physical, screenless AI assistant powered by Raspberry Pi.
The original idea seemed relatively simple. I wanted to create something I could talk to naturally, without needing a screen.
But turning that idea into a working prototype was a completely different experience.
I had to deal with hardware, software, voice recognition, AI integration, unexpected bugs, wrong assumptions, and plenty of decisions I would approach differently today.
One thing I didn't expect was how much the process would change the way I think about building things.
Eventually, I realized that the technical guide wasn't the most valuable thing I could share — it was the psychological and practical shift in mindset. So, I wrote a book about it. It's called: The Distance Between an Idea and the Prototype.
It’s not a step-by-step coding tutorial. Instead, it’s an honest look at everything that happens between imagining a project and making it work—the mistakes, the decisions, and the lessons learned along the way.
If you’ve ever felt stuck moving from a concept to a working product, I hope my failures and breakthroughs can help you navigate your own journey.
You can check out the project and the book here: (https://thedistancebetweenanideaandtheproto.vercel.app/)
Would love to hear your thoughts!

DEV Community: Martin Kuboušek

I built a physical AI assistant. The mistakes I made taught me so much that I ended up writing a book about the reality of prototyping.