I'm not an electrical engineer. But I kept wanting to build smart devices - a mosquito trap for the garden, a nightlight my kid controls with claps, a smart dog collar.
Every time, I'd hit the same wall: which components are compatible? What pins do I connect? What libraries do I need?
So I built Make-it - you describe a device in plain English and it generates:
- A complete parts list with specs
- A wiring diagram with pin assignments
- Working Arduino/ESP32/Raspberry Pi code
- A step-by-step build guide
The technical challenge
The hard part isn't generating code - any LLM can do that. The hard part is making the output actually buildable:
- GPIO pin conflict detection across multiple sensors
- Component compatibility validation (will this sensor work with this board?)
- Correct library dependencies and imports
- Pin assignments that match the physical wiring
A raw LLM will confidently tell you to connect a sensor to a pin that doesn't support analog input. The domain layer on top catches that.
Real-world testing
I've been dogfooding by posting actual builds on Reddit:
- An automated mosquito trap hit 339K views and #1 on r/homeautomation
- A clap-activated nightlight for kids got 25K views on r/arduino
- People are actually ordering parts and building these projects
What's next
I'm working on multi-board communication (Arduino + RPi over serial), better PCB-level layouts, and eventually simulation.
Would love feedback from anyone who's tried using AI for hardware projects. What works? What breaks?
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