STANDGUARD ← back to the bench
FIELD NOTES · BENCH AUTOPSIES

Autopsies of benches that deserved better.

Real failure modes from hardware-in-the-loop benches — the typed mistakes that destroy hardware, void campaigns, and look completely fine until they don't. Every story becomes a check in the open catalog.

→
003 · AUG 2026
The HIL pre-power checklist (2026 edition)
Every autopsy ends the same way: the failure was typed, visible, and cheap to catch. Twenty checks, walked straight out of the open catalog — print it, tape it to the rack, run it before every power-up.
REFERENCE · all 20 rules · 9 MIN
 →
002 · AUG 2026
The e-stop that cut nothing
Wired, tested, signed off. The relay clicked when the operator slammed the button. And the bus stayed hot — because the cut-list referenced a channel name that didn't exist.
NEAR-MISS AUTOPSY · interlock.cuts · 6 MIN
 →
001 · AUG 2026
28 volts into a 12-volt rail: an autopsy of a bug that was typed, not soldered
The most expensive bug I've ever shipped wasn't in firmware. It was a spreadsheet cell — and it cost a prototype that took six weeks to build.
THE ORIGINAL SIN · pin.conflict + taxonomy · 7 MIN
New autopsies every two weeks · RSS · Got a failure mode? It becomes rule 21 — hello@standguard.dev