Legal
Safety notice
Last updated 23 October 2026
Haviland helps you design and build real machines, and real machines can hurt people. Please read this notice before you build, power or test anything designed with Haviland. It is part of our Terms of Service.
The short version
Haviland can be wrong. Check its work before you build or power anything.
Power new circuits carefully, and never leave a first test unattended.
Batteries, mains electricity, moving parts and tools need real care.
Under 18? Build with an adult, and never work with mains electricity.
This summary is a reading aid. It isn’t part of the notice.
1. Haviland can be wrong
Haviland is an AI, and AI makes mistakes. Its simulations are models of a machine, and its calculations rest on assumptions. Haviland says how it knows each figure: assumed, sourced, calculated, simulated, measured or validated. Nothing is measured until someone measures it on the real machine. Treat Haviland’s work as a careful first draft that you must check.
2. Before you power anything
Check the wiring, polarity and voltage ratings against the datasheets.
For the first power-up, use a current-limited bench supply where you can, and keep a quick way to cut the power.
Work on a surface that won’t burn, and keep flammable things away.
Never leave a first test, or anything that is charging, unattended.
Secure anything that can move so it can’t drive or fall off the bench, and keep fingers, hair and loose clothing clear of motors, wheels and gears.
Wear eye protection when you cut, drill, solder or test moving parts.
3. Batteries
Batteries, and lithium batteries above all, can overheat, catch fire or burst if they are short-circuited, punctured, overcharged or overheated. Use the charger made for them, protect their terminals, use protection circuits and fuses where they are needed, never charge them unattended, and dispose of damaged cells safely.
4. Mains electricity
Household mains electricity (100–240 V AC) can kill. Haviland is not intended for projects that connect to mains power. Power your projects from certified adapters, and leave mains wiring to a qualified electrician.
5. Tools and 3D printers
Follow the instructions for your tools and printer. Ventilate when you solder or print, and keep printers supervised while they run.
6. What not to use Haviland for
Do not use Haviland to design, build or control anything whose failure could cause death, serious injury or serious damage. That includes medical devices, life-support equipment, vehicles, aircraft, drones flown near people, safety systems and weapons.
7. When Haviland controls hardware
Haviland works within permission levels. By default it stops at compiling firmware: anything beyond that needs your yes, and each yes allows one more step, for one turn. Writing to a board needs a mode that you switch on deliberately. No mode lets Haviland drive lab instruments or operate a machine that moves in the world, but the most permissive mode can make a connected board do things, including turn motors, so secure anything that can move before you allow it. Read what Haviland proposes before you approve it, and unplug any hardware you don’t want it to reach.
8. Younger makers
Anyone under 18 should build with an adult. Have an adult supervise any work with electricity, batteries, motors, tools or 3D printers. Never work with mains electricity, and never charge lithium batteries unsupervised.
9. If something goes wrong
Cut the power if it is safe to do so. If there is smoke or fire, get away and call your local emergency number. Don’t touch a battery that is hot, swollen or damaged. Tell us about any safety issue at legal@haviland.software.
10. Your responsibility
You decide what to build, and you are responsible for building and using it safely and lawfully. If you sell or give away a device, product-safety and certification rules may apply to it.