Raspberry Pi Now Offers a More Powerful AI Kit

Back in June, Raspberry Pi introduced a $70 AI Kit for the Raspberry Pi 5. Today, it introduced an even more powerful version for $110.

“Following the successful launch of the Raspberry Pi AI Kit and AI Camera, we are excited to introduce the newest addition to our AI product line: the Raspberry Pi AI HAT+,” Raspberry Pi’s Naush Patuck writes in the announcement post. “The AI HAT+ features the same best-in-class Hailo AI accelerator technology as our AI Kit, but now with a choice of two performance options: The 13 TOPS (tera-operations per second) model, priced at $70 and featuring the same Hailo-8L accelerator as the AI Kit, and the more powerful 26 TOPS model at $110, equipped with the Hailo-8 accelerator.”

That’s pretty impressive. AI performance is measured in TOPS, but perhaps Raspberry Pi should start toting its “TOPS per dollar” performance: To get this level of NPU performance from a mainstream smartphone or PC, you have to spend several hundred dollars or more.

In any event, the AI Hat+ utilizes an integrated Hailo accelerator chip (NPU) rather than relying on an M.2 connector like the original AI Hat. This change simplifies the kit, improves thermal dissipation, and allows the device to do its thing more efficiently.

The new AI Hats are compatible at a software level, so any neural network model compiled for the Hailo-8L will run on the Hailo-8. But Raspberry Pi notes that the faster NPU in the AI Kit+ will enable users to run more sophisticated neural networks in real time, achieving better inference performance and run multiple networks simultaneously at high frame rates.

“For instance, you can perform object detection, pose estimation, and subject segmentation simultaneously on a live camera feed using the 26 TOPS AI HAT+,” Patuck says.

You can learn more on the Raspberry Pi website.