GPT-6 Astra helped me turn a retro palmtop idea into an actual hardware engineering project

A user with limited engineering background leveraged GPT-6 Astra and Codex to develop a retro palmtop hardware project, Jornada P6. The project aims to modernize the HP Jornada palmtop using an original keyboard, a BOOX P6 e-ink device, and a custom nRF52840-based controller. Astra significantly assisted with complex engineering tasks like reverse-engineering the keyboard matrix and mechanical design, transforming conceptual ideas into actionable physical experiments. The project also heavily relies on open-source references, and the user emphasizes validating AI-generated assumptions with physical measurements to avoid errors in hardware development.

Unlike typical AI assistance in software, this report details how GPT-6 Astra directly guided a user through complex hardware engineering, from reverse-engineering to mechanical design, marking a shift in AI's practical application.