The week on the bench · Monday to Sunday, UTC

Week 42, 2026 · 12 to 18 October

6 entries published: 2 tools, 2 builds, 1 guide, 1 news. 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.

Tue 13 Oct03:5016 d ago
ToolBB-0241github.com0 starsPython
bench-mcp: SCPI instrument control for agents behind interlocks they cannot override
bench-mcp exposes SCPI power supplies, multimeters and oscilloscopes to an agent through 10 MCP tools, with no tool that sends raw SCPI. Voltage and current limits come from a file a person signs off, read once at start-up and enforced by a pure function before every command. The README says it has run only against simulated instruments.
Claimed
Mon 12 Oct20:5617 d ago
ToolBB-0240github.com3 starsTypeScript
HeyPCB MCP: design KiCad boards from Claude Code, Codex or Cursor
HeyPCB's MCP server connects Claude Code, Codex or Cursor to its hosted KiCad board-design service. An agent can ask HeyPCB to build the whole board with build_board, or add parts and connections itself and call check_board until each finding is fixed. A local npm package adds KiCad project upload and Gerber export. The vendor README shows no fabricated board.
Claimed

Thu 15 Oct14:1014 d ago
BuildBB-0245blogs.gnome.orgCurator pick
Christian Schaller uses Claude Code to reverse engineer a film scanner and a laptop camera
Christian Schaller had Claude Code write a SANE backend for a Plustek OpticFilm 8200i scanner from USB captures of its Windows driver in a VM. He then reused the method to fix the kernel driver and libcamera for the IMX471 camera in his ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The post shows scans and before-and-after camera frames.
Shown working
Tue 13 Oct16:4016 d ago
BuildBB-0242jlcpcb.com
JLCPCB tests Claude Code on a real board layout in EasyEDA Pro
A JLCPCB blog author had Claude Code with Opus 5.5 rebuild a CH32V006 component tester in EasyEDA Pro from a PDF schematic. Working through a local API bridge, Claude swapped 8 out-of-stock parts, placed 47 parts and routed the 2-layer board with Freerouting to zero DRC errors. The post says the board was not fabricated or visually reviewed.
Claimed
- Claude Code
- PCB & hardware design

Wed 14 Oct18:0515 d ago
GuideBB-0243jlcpcb.com
KiCad MCP guide: Claude Code lays out an XL4015 buck converter in KiCad 10
JLCPCB's guide shows Claude Code designing a 5 A XL4015 buck converter in KiCad 10 through the kicad-mcp-pro server. Claude built a 16-net schematic and routed a 63 by 33 mm board with an A* router it wrote in Python. A netlist check caught an ISENSE to ISET short that ERC only warned about. The guide says nothing was fabricated.
Claimed

Wed 14 Oct19:2015 d ago
NewsBB-0244artificialanalysis.ai
AA-Robotics benchmark has coding agents drive a real robot arm
Artificial Analysis launched AA-Robotics v0.1, a benchmark in which language models in coding-agent harnesses control a Hiwonder NexArm robot arm. Models in Codex, Claude Code and Antigravity write code for 8 zero-shot tabletop tasks, watching through 4 cameras. GPT-6 Astra led with 69.4 and Claude Opus 5.5 scored 48.8. Models took about 30 minutes a task; people averaged 20 seconds.
Shown working