AI Writes My Code, So I’m Learning Hardware
AI now writes most of my code. That pushed me toward the part it can't do for me: understanding the hardware that code runs on. So I've been learning embedded systems with a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W and a SunFounder starter
AI now writes most of my code. That pushed me toward the part it can't do for me: understanding the hardware that code runs on. So I've been learning embedded systems with a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W and a SunFounder starter kit, and built my first useful project: a little system that waters my plant.
Prefer to watch? Here's the full build video.
Why hardware, and why now
- AI can write the code, not wire the board. As AI handles more of the software, knowing how power, signals and real components behave is the part that stays valuable.
- You see the result. The LED lights up or it doesn't. The pump runs or it doesn't. There's no ambiguity.
- It's a useful skill. IoT and edge devices need people who are comfortable with both code and hardware. I'm also taking UT Austin's edX course Embedded Systems – Shape The World: Multi-Threaded Interfacing for the theory.
The kit
I'm using the SunFounder Pico 2 W Starter Kit. It comes with around 41 parts, including sensors, LEDs, a DC motor, a small water pump, a motor driver and a LiPo charger module. Every lesson has a wiring diagram and MicroPython code, so you can go from unboxing to a blinking LED in minutes.
The build
The plant waterer combines two kit lessons: the micro switch and the DC motor. I swapped the motor for the kit's water pump and gave it a job.
- Pico 2 W running the logic in MicroPython
- TA6586 driver chip switching the pump on and off
- A small pump in a glass of water, with a tube running to the plant pot
- A LiPo battery and charger module powering the pump separately from the Pico
- Status LEDs showing what the system is doing
Claude made this much faster. It wrote most of the MicroPython, helped me read the kit's wiring diagrams, and turned my circuit into the diagram below in minutes. The wiring, the power setup and the debugging were still on me.
What I learned
- Power comes first. A pump draws more current than the Pico can supply, so it needs its own battery, with a ground shared with the Pico.
- Most bugs are in the wiring. One jumper a row off breaks everything, and nothing tells you which one.
- Keep water away from electronics. Next time the glass goes further from the breadboard and battery.
Watch it work
What's next
- Learning to solder, so projects can move off the breadboard and onto something permanent
- A drivable robot, using motors, the driver chip and the kit's sensors
- Upgrading the plant waterer with PWM speed control and Wi-Fi status updates to my phone
AI can write the code, but someone still has to wire the board. If you've been curious about hardware, a starter kit and a weekend are enough to start. Tell me in the comments what I should build next.
Sources
Originally published by Dev.to AI. Aggregated on AIWithGhost for educational purposes — full credit and traffic to the original publisher.