From Software Agents to Physical Devices: Inside the Agentic Hardware Stack

AI coding agents are reshaping software development, but they are also creating demand for a new class of devices: hardware built specifically for interacting with non-deterministic, always-on personal agents. This talk explores the rise of agentic hardware through a real open-source device: a voice-first, AI-native controller for personal agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and OpenClaw. The device combines a 3D-printed enclosure, mini keyboard, LCD screen, microphone, ESP32-based firmware, and Bluetooth/Wi-Fi connectivity to create an interface that makes sense for AI agents rather than traditional desktop workflows. Using this device as a case study, I’ll walk through the full technical stack behind agentic hardware: PCB design and manufacturing, enclosure prototyping with 3D printing, embedded firmware on ESP32, networking and transport choices, and the WebSocket server architecture that bridges the device to agent runtimes running on personal computers. The session focuses on the engineering trade-offs involved in building hardware for AI-native interaction: latency, connectivity, input ergonomics, voice-first UX, power and form-factor constraints, and the challenges of integrating deterministic embedded systems with probabilistic AI systems. Attendees will leave with a practical mental model for building their own agentic devices, plus concrete lessons on where edge hardware is becoming essential in the age of personal AI agents. Open source repos covered in this talk: * Device firmware: https://github.com/second-state/vibekeys_firmware * WebSocket server that orchestrates AI agents and LLMs: https://github.com/second-state/vibetty * Open source voice recognition models: https://github.com/second-state/qwen3_asr_rs and https://github.com/second-state/cohere_transcribe_rs