Let's Make a Gadget — book cover
📖 Companion Book — 2026

Let’s Make a Gadget

A complete, hands-on guide to building the TmpMonitor IoT device from scratch — schematic, PCB, firmware, server, mobile app, web dashboard, 3D enclosure, and Kickstarter campaign. Every chapter uses Claude as a development partner.

Author
Parmod K. Gandhi
Publisher
Superior Home Automation Corp.
Chapters
16 + 5 Appendices
Est. pages
~617
Status
In Progress — 2026
Contents

16 chapters — cradle to market

Every stage of building and shipping a real IoT product. No shortcuts, no toy examples — the actual TmpMonitor device, step by step.

00
Front MatterForeword, preface, how to use this book
✓ Done
01
Getting StartedHardware intro, first firmware sketch, IDE setup
✓ Done
02
AI Development with ClaudeHow to use Claude as a dev partner throughout
✓ Done
03
Setting up the Environment9 tools: ESP-IDF, RAD Studio, VS Code, Git…
✓ Done
04
Schematic DesignEasyEDA, reading the TmpMonitor schematic
Partial
05
PCB LayoutAltium Designer, design rules, fabrication output
Upcoming
06
ESP-IDF FirmwareFreeRTOS tasks, I2C, BLE GATT, Wi-Fi in C
Upcoming
07
BLE CommunicationNimBLE stack, GATT server, characteristic UUIDs
Upcoming
08
Wi-Fi and CloudWebSocket client, JSON, TCP/IP streaming
Partial
09
Delphi Host AppFireMonkey, BLE scanner, TmpMonitor dashboard app
✓ Done
10
TMS Server StackXData REST, Sphinx JWT auth, Aurelius ORM
Partial
11
AWS DeploymentLightsail, Ubuntu, Nginx, Let's Encrypt SSL
Partial
12
Web DashboardTMS Web Core, pas2js, WebSocket browser client
Partial
13
3D EnclosureFusion 360 Python API, PETG printing, AMS two-colour
✓ Done
14
Marketing and SalesProduct positioning, Amazon listing, DigiKey
Upcoming
15
Kickstarter CampaignCampaign planning, reward tiers, backer comms
Partial
16
Selling on MarketplacesAmazon FBA, DigiKey listing, international
Partial
Appendices
A
Git and GitHubGitHub Desktop, branching, pull requests
Partial
B
Virtual MachineVirtualBox setup for cross-platform development
✓ Done
C
Arduino PlatformArduino framework reference
Upcoming
D
RAD Studio DelphiIDE setup, FireMonkey overview
✓ Done
E
Visual Studio CodeExtensions, ESP-IDF integration
Upcoming
About the Author

Parmod K. Gandhi

Parmod Gandhi is the founder of Superior Home Automation Corp. in Port Colborne, Ontario. He designed the TmpMonitor PCB from scratch in Altium Designer, built the full firmware stack in ESP-IDF, and developed the complete server, app, and cloud infrastructure before writing a single word of this book.

After discovering Claude in February 2026 — through a YouTube video by Andreas Spiess — Parmod began using AI as a development partner to accelerate and document the remaining chapters. The book captures both the technical decisions and the AI-assisted workflow in full detail.

Get in Touch →
Contributors & Collaborators
📖
Ian Barker
Embarcadero Developer Evangelist — Foreword contributor
🖥️
Bruno Fierens
Founder, TMS Software — Server chapter technical advisor
📡
Robert Feranec
EasyEDA schematic chapter — contributor (outreach sent)
▶️
Andreas Spiess
YouTube creator who introduced Parmod to Claude — acknowledged