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Raspberry Pi Goes AI
Soon after the generative AI craze began years ago, makers and enthusiasts naturally started to experiment with the technology using Raspberry Pi, the famed credit-card-sized, single-board hobbyist computer originally developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation for educational purposes, prototyping and various DIY projects.
For example, way back in early 2020 there was guidance sprouting up such as "Getting Started with Artificial Intelligence Using the Raspberry Pi."
Now, it's gone official, with the commercial Raspberry Pi site this week announcing the new Raspberry Pi AI Kit is available for $70.
"The Raspberry Pi AI Kit bundles the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ with a Hailo AI acceleration module for use with Raspberry Pi 5," the kit's description says. "It provides an accessible, cost-effective, and power-efficient way to integrate high-performance AI."
[Click on image for larger view.] Raspberry Pi AI Kit (source: Raspberry Pi).
That's thanks to features like:
- 13 tera-operations per second (TOPS) of inferencing performance
- Single-lane PCIe 3.0 connection running at 8Gbps
- Full integration with the Raspberry Pi image software subsystem
- Compatibility with first-party or third-party cameras
- Efficient scheduling of the accelerator hardware: run multiple neural networks on a single camera, or single/multiple neural networks with two cameras concurrently
"This is Raspberry Pi's first AI-enabled board and allows amateur creators and developers to add AI models to whatever they're already doing with Raspberry Pi -- from projects in home automation, security, robotics and beyond," a spokesperson told Virtualization & Cloud Review.
"Additionally, Hailo is unveiling a new virtual community forum featuring tutorials, FAQs and other resources to support innovation and collaboration among the growing community of Hailo developers and new Raspberry Pi users."
That forum requires registration.
One of the other resources is the Hailo Model Explorer, which Hailo described as a dynamic tool designed to help users explore the models on the GitHub-hosted Model Zoo and select the best NN models for their AI applications. The company also offers a Hailo AI Software Suite to enable the compilation of deep learning models and the implementation of AI applications in production environments.
"The partnership will empower both professional and enthusiast creators to elevate their projects and solutions in home automation, security, robotics and beyond, with advanced AI technological capabilities," Hailo said in a news release.
Other uses of Raspberry Pi have been explored by our own Tom Fenton, who has written articles including:
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer for Converge360.