Schematik raises $4.6M to help people build gadgets with AI guidance

In short: A new tool called Schematik has raised $4.6 million to help more people design and assemble simple electronic gadgets with step by step AI help.

What happened

Schematik is a program made by Amsterdam-based builder Samuel Beek. He started working on it after a DIY electric door opener, built with chatbot help, blew the fuses in his house. Beek says the experience showed how easy it is for a chatbot to give unsafe or confusing wiring advice.

Schematik aims to make that process clearer. You describe what you want to build, like a small music player, and the tool suggests the parts and wiring plan. It is also meant to guide you through putting the device together, and Beek says he is working on adding a shopping list so users can buy the right components.

Beek calls Schematik “Cursor for hardware,” meaning it tries to do for physical projects what some AI coding tools do for software. People have already used it to build small devices, including an MP3 player and a Tamagotchi-style helper gadget.

Schematik recently received $4.6 million from venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners. Separately, an Anthropic engineer posted that Anthropic has enabled a small Bluetooth API, which is a way for makers to let hardware devices communicate with Claude over Bluetooth (like letting a homemade gadget send messages to a phone).

Why it matters

Building electronics can feel like cooking without a recipe, since parts must match and wiring mistakes can break things. Tools like Schematik could lower the barrier for hobbyists, but safety remains a key concern, especially as projects move beyond low voltage devices.

Source: Wired