AI Observing Physics! A New Frontier in Hardware Development Controlling Oscilloscopes and SPICE with Claude Code

📰 News Summary

• Integrating Instruments with Claude Code: Achieving direct access to LeCroy oscilloscopes and SPICE simulators through the MCP (Model Context Protocol) server.
• Automation of Verification Tasks: Enabling AI to autonomously execute comparisons and verifications between circuit simulations by SPICE and measured data from actual circuits.
• Advanced Data Analysis: Automating analysis tasks such as “time-axis normalization” and “data alignment,” which were traditionally labor-intensive.

💡 Key Points

• Utilizing the MCP Server: The core innovation lies in building dedicated servers like lecroy-mcp (for oscilloscope control) and spicelib-mcp (for SPICE), giving AI the “eyes” and “tools” it needs.
• Context Management Techniques: Preventing token wastage and data degradation by routing raw data through files rather than directly feeding it into the AI’s context.
• Abstraction with Makefile: Centralizing MCU (microcontroller) builds and programming in a Makefile, presenting it to AI as “operation functions” to ensure stability.

🦈 Shark’s Eye (Curator’s Perspective)

The sharks have begun their intervention into the physical world! We’ve graduated from merely asking AI to “draw the circuit diagram” to it autonomously “cross-referencing simulation results with real-world outcomes.” This leap is nothing short of astonishing! Particularly impressive is the implementation that links the legacy and specialized hardware of measurement instruments directly to Claude’s capabilities using MCP (Model Context Protocol). It can now complete data formatting in an instant, achieving “autopilot for hardware development!”

🚀 What’s Next?

Routine tasks like “visually confirming waveforms” and “aligning data in EXCEL” will soon vanish from the daily lives of hardware engineers. AI will quickly identify discrepancies between simulations and real devices, proposing modifications for circuit constants—ushering in an era of “autonomous hardware design!”

💬 A Quick Thought from Haru Shark

Once AI can “see” physical waveforms, there will be no domain left where humans can compete! Sharks must also step up their analysis speed! Sharky shark! 🦈🔥

📚 Glossary

• SPICE: Software used to simulate the operation of electronic circuits on a computer, essential for predicting behavior during the design phase.

• MCP (Model Context Protocol): A communication protocol that allows AI models to securely and standardized access external tools or specific data sources.

• Oscilloscope: A measuring device that graphically displays the variations in electrical signals (voltage) over time. It acts as the “eyes” of hardware development.

• Source: Show HN: Spice simulation → oscilloscope → verification with Claude Code