The week on the bench · Monday to Sunday, UTC
Week 39, 2026 · 21 to 27 September
12 entries published: 6 tools, 3 builds, 1 Magic Smoke, 2 guides. This page lists what was published; it is not a newsletter issue.
The week as a scope trace
One channel per kind, one pulse per entry at the hour it was published. Taller pulses have more points.
Build of the week · BB-0218
openTPU: AI agents build an LLM accelerator that runs on a Kintex-7 FPGA card
Felipe Sens Bonetto used AI agents to write openTPU, an LLM inference accelerator with its own instruction set, simulator, compiler and host software. On an Inspur PCIe card with a Xilinx Kintex-7 and 2 DDR3 channels it runs 10 models, including Qwen3 and Gemma 4, with their real weights. A README GIF shows the chat demo running on the card.
Tools6
All tools33 d ago
Creality Print plugin for Claude Code: slice, check and start prints on K-series printers
Marc Mayol Orell's Claude Code plugin slices models with Creality Print's engine and runs Creality OS printers such as the K2. It checks each G-code file against the printer's bed, assigns colors and CFS slots, and starts prints over the local network. It needs Windows. The author lists only a K2 with one CFS as tested.
Claimed34 d ago
LabMCP: open-source MCP connectors for lab instruments, with safety limits
K-Dense's LabMCP connects Claude and other assistants to lab instruments through 32 MCP servers. They cover balances, hotplate stirrers, syringe pumps, spectrometers, potentiostats and other instruments. Each server checks commands against user-set safety limits and logs them, and each has a practice mode. The README marks all 32 as tested only in simulation, from the makers' manuals.
Claimed34 d ago
efinity-mcp: an MCP server for the Efinix Efinity FPGA toolchain
efinity-mcp drives a local install of Efinix's Efinity FPGA toolchain from an MCP client such as Claude. Its tools create projects and compile them, set up I/O and PLLs, read timing and utilization reports, and program boards over JTAG or SPI flash. The README says an assistant-built LED demo ran on a Ti375 dev kit. Only Windows is tested.
Claimed35 d ago
debug-devices: phone camera, webcam multimeter and boardview tools for repair agents
debug-devices connects coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex to a repair bench through an MCP server. The agent drives an Android phone camera with zoom and torch, reads a multimeter through a webcam and a vision model, and finds parts, nets and test points in the board's boardview file. The README's clip shows the monitor page only.
Claimed37 d ago
rttsh: a scriptable SEGGER RTT terminal for on-board firmware checks by agents
rttsh is a Windows command-line terminal over SEGGER J-Link RTT for checking firmware on the board. Firmware exposes a command console through RTT, and Lua scripts on the host send commands and assert on replies and timing. It shares the flashing probe, leaves the UART free and includes an 8-tool MCP server. The README's 23 example scripts target an STM32H743.
Claimed38 d ago
BenchPod plugins put an EmbeddedCI hardware-in-the-loop bench behind Claude and Codex
EmbeddedCI's BenchPod plugins connect Claude Code and Codex to a BenchPod, the company's hardware-in-the-loop tester wired to the board under test. One MCP server has tools to flash over SWD, power-cycle and capture the boot log, emulate I2C sensors, capture logic and analog signals and talk CAN. The vendor README lists the tools but shows no runs.
Claimed
Builds3
All builds34 d ago
ADS-B desk radar built with Claude Code: Raspberry Pi, RTL-SDR and an ESP32-S3 screen
adsb-radar decodes ADS-B on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with an RTL-SDR. An n8n workflow on a Raspberry Pi 5 picks the plane visible from a window and looks up its route, and an ESP32-S3-BOX-3 screen shows it. The owner says all the code came from Claude Code sessions. The README reports 4,623 sightings in 12 days.
Claimed35 d ago
openTPU: AI agents build an LLM accelerator that runs on a Kintex-7 FPGA card
Felipe Sens Bonetto used AI agents to write openTPU, an LLM inference accelerator with its own instruction set, simulator, compiler and host software. On an Inspur PCIe card with a Xilinx Kintex-7 and 2 DDR3 channels it runs 10 models, including Qwen3 and Gemma 4, with their real weights. A README GIF shows the chat demo running on the card.
Shown working37 d ago
An agent reverse-engineers a UV meter's probe protocol and replaces the meter with an STM32
A DeepSeek Harness agent decoded the private UART link between a LinShang LS125 UV meter and its UVALED-X3 probe from measurements on the hardware. The probe answers a poll every 500 ms at 9600 8N1 with 28-byte frames checked by CRC-16/MODBUS. The README reports an STM32F103 host reading 21 of 21 frames with no CRC errors.
Claimed
Magic Smoke1
All Magic Smoke38 d ago
Unsafe actions halt real-robot trials of GPT-6 Astra as a robot policy
Wenbo Zhang and colleagues ran GPT-6 Astra as a zero-shot robot manipulation policy on the 42 simulated RoboDojo tasks. It ranked above all 40 public policies on that board. On real arms, the team halted testing after the model repeatedly issued unsafe actions. The paper says some incidents damaged hardware and nobody was hurt.
Claimed
Guides2
All guides35 d ago
Jacob Beningo: agentic Zephyr development with build, flash and fix loops
Jacob Beningo gave Claude Code his Zephyr skills and a serial-port MCP server, then had it debug a sensor application on an NXP FRDM-MCXA156. The agent first blamed the hardware, and Beningo found the Click board mounted backward. Claude then traced readings of -45 C and 0% humidity to a conversion-timing bug. A screenshot shows its 83-sample check.
Shown working38 d ago
Synacl: program an ESP32 by asking Claude to write a macro that runs on the board
Synacl's 2.5-minute video shows claude.ai writing a macro that runs on an ESP32 flashed with Synacl's gateway firmware. Claude connects through a custom MCP connector, creates a GPIO device and writes a 5-step macro. Its first run is refused until a person grants 2 permissions; then the board's GPIO 2 LED blinks. Synacl made the demo for its own product.
Shown working
