How I Build Firmware with AI — A Research, Plan, Execute, Test Loop in Practice

TL;DR Tell an AI "implement this" in firmware and you get nonexistent register addresses and ISR-incompatible APIs that pass the build but brick the board. A 4-stage loop — research, plan, execute, test — with two human gates (datasheet cross-check, design review) stops bad information from propagating into code. AI output needs human verification during research and planning, but for log analysis AI is faster than any human — calibrate AI involvement per stage. I expected AI coding tools t...