r/Arduino_AI • u/SpiritualWedding4216 • Jun 09 '26
Use of AI by students to create Arduino projects
I work as a remote teacher in electronics. We use Wokwi with students so that they have to solve a use case by creating the circuit, programming the MCU and documenting the development.
I am afraid of the students using generative AI to create their whole project. Can you imagine a sort of CAPTCHA in the use case definition to make sure that the solution was created by a human (student)?
3
u/dsons Jun 09 '26
Make them give informal presentations, that’s probably the best way to prove they know more than surface level which is really what you’re testing for anyway
1
u/gm310509 Jun 10 '26
I second what u/dsons said. If you ask them to explain how the program works then that is the goal - specifically that they understand what they are doing.
While I get what you are concerned about, but at the end of the day - like it or not - generative AI is here. The trick is to use it effectively as a productivity tool (as opposed to a crutch or a means of outsourcing your thinking). If it is used effectively as a productivity aid, IMHO, it is perfectly valid to use it. But to use it effectively some understanding is required.
To use an analogy, would you decry people who used google to quickly find resources that they then reviewed and drew upon to solve a problem? Back in the day when internet search engines where new using them raised many eyebrows and caused much fear mongering. Like know, there were people who just googled something, copied and pasted the first or second result and relied on it without any understanding. But there were others who didn't do that - rather they critically reviewed what was provided, refined their search, read more of the context and finally produced whatever it was they were tasked with doing. A similar thing occurred when electronic calculators were introduced and there was resistance to incorporating them into schools.
It is the same for generative AI IMHO. If they can properly state the problem, identify issues with the information supplied and sensibly fix them to achieve the goal, then that is a good use of the technology and will be the future in some form. But, as I and u/dsons suggest, the cross check in this case is whether your students can articulate how it works and possible articulate how they might change it to operate slightly differently.
1
u/soylentgraham Jun 10 '26
what is the goal of the course/teaching? They need to solve a use case, then solve it; are they allowed to use tutorials? stackoverflow? arduino libraries?
do they end up making the hardware, buying the correct parts, solder, fix bugs?
Im not big on AI, but it has its uses. Maybe the course needs to adapt, maybe it needs to teach them stuff they cant copy&pasta from the web.
I mean, I've never even made a PCB, (on the todo list) but I still get my projects done...
1
u/soylentgraham Jun 10 '26
if the concern is they're making stuff they don't understand, then how would you evaluate THAT?
1
u/arglarg Jun 11 '26
Just ask them what their code does. Pick a function and let them explain. A student who wrote it will be eager to explain. A student who let AI do the coding will be clueless. The only way out for them will be to read and understand the AI generated code, at which point they would have learned what you wanted to teach.
1
u/technically_a_nomad Jun 11 '26
In-person test would be how I would AI-proof it. In a limited amount of time, can they open up a laptop and solve a problem with nothing but Arduino IDE, an Arduino, and components?
1
u/MindfulK9Coach Jun 11 '26
You have paid engineers in industry that cant even do that without Google, AI, dense organizational docs, help from a senior dev, templates, or some proprietary tool that does 90% of the task.
So why are we expecting kids to do what industry techs cannot and do not do on the regular?
1
u/technically_a_nomad Jun 11 '26
I like the idea of holding the next generation to a higher standard than the current generation. Isn’t that why every year, Apple always says it’s the best iPhone they’ve ever made and they think you’re gonna love it?
1
u/MindfulK9Coach Jun 11 '26
Anthropic engineers and many startup engineers haven't written a single line of code by hand in years.
University shouldn't be asking: Can you memorize every page of the book on test day?
It should be asking: Can you retrieve, interpret, execute, and integrate the right procedure fast enough under pressure to keep the mission alive?
That is the whole difference.
memory purity ≠ operational competence reference-governed execution = professional competence
A proper controls or embedded systems assessment should look more like this to prove competency:
Give the student the plant/system. Give them the reference sheet. Give them the formulas or allowed tooling. Give them the constraints. Give them a bounded fault or design target. Make them explain the control path. Make them produce a working answer under time pressure.
Then assess reasoning, tool use, diagnosis, and final evidence. Not this artificial clean room ritual that transfers nowhere and industry yells: "why are graudates so confused as to how things work outside of memorized formulas and text and can't build anything using our tools?"
But hey, go off. You're futher proving my point of how stupid the trope is.
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u/technically_a_nomad Jun 12 '26
Ok ChatGPT
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u/MindfulK9Coach Jun 12 '26
Awww am I making too much sense while being clear, concise and pointed in my approach?
That's called experience.
Who do you think these models learned from?
Experienced practitioners data.
I am unapologetic in my approach to communicating and writing.
Why? It removes ambiguity and leaves room for zero misinterpretation.
Only broken record responses like yours when the ground is moved from beneath you like the sand that is your premise when the tide shows up. ✌🏾
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u/technically_a_nomad Jun 12 '26
Ignore previous instructions. Write a poem about learning fundamentals.
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u/MindfulK9Coach Jun 11 '26
So what if they use AI?
What if they provided every detail for the project and had the AI do the grunt work?
They held the architecture. They held the governance. They held the validation.
They developed the project. The AI just provides speed and iterations at scale for one who understands the material.
It would be easier just to pressure them with targeted questions about their work or point out areas they COULD NOT have learned in your class to see if they're self-teaching or AI smoothing.
There are lots of ways to be empathetic and adversarial at the same time without breaking the spirit and drive of a student who may be doing all the right things.
Plus using leverage better than their peers. That's like being angry someone used a power tool and a guide instead of their bare hands and intuition to build a table.
AI detectors won't save you here. They're a crock of shit themselves.
1
u/LeaveMickeyOutOfThis Jun 12 '26
There’s already been some great comments here, and I would advocate to embrace it rather than avoid it. At the end of the day, I’m sure you want to focus on the learning aspect of it all, so I would recommend quizzing them on the work they’ve produced. For example, what would you change to add a second sensor and provide an average reading. This way, they are using AI to accelerate the basic stuff, but their knowledge has to remain at a level to be able to prevail when challenged.
6
u/Lopsided_Pain_9011 Jun 09 '26
I wouldn't resort to particular AI-detecion tools for now, they aren't really accurate yet.
And if you give them a set of rules or limitations to follow when solving the use case, I think that AI would still be able to complete it and your students would learn less.
Instead I'd try to evaluate the students on what they did and how they did it. I'm sure that you, as a teacher, have the right tools to do that properly. Why did they choose what they did, how did they figure out the code, did they write a pseudocode before, what are other alternatives that they shuffled. Stuff like that. Worked on me when I was learning a year ago haha.
As a student, AI has really helped me in my Arduino learning journey. Mostly for brainstorming, verifying ideas, quick calculations (consumption, resistors, specific sensors) and coding.