Hailo Technologies, one of the emerging names in the market for AI accelerator chips, is contributing its processors to the new Raspberry Pi AI Kit, which is designed to bring new AI capabilities to users of the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer.
Being selected for inclusion in the kit as an “add-on” for Raspberry Pi 5, which came out late last year, will expose start-up Hailo to a global user community that earlier this year measured out at about 55 million people. The Raspberry Pi AI Kit will be demonstrated this week at the Raspberry Pi booth (Booth 3A-138) at Embedded World China, June 12-14, and later this summer at Maker Faire Hannover, Germany, August 17-18. The partners said the new kit will allow Raspberry Pi 5 users, both professional and enthusiast creators among them, to bring new capabilities to their projects, products, and applications in fields like home automation, security, robotics, and more.
“We are thrilled to support Raspberry Pi and empower its vibrant community of professional engineers and creative makers with cutting-edge AI capabilities,” said Hailo CEO and Co-founder Orr Danon. “Our partnership with the world’s leading single-board computer provider will inspire a new era of computing, enhanced by our high-performance AI processing capacity.”
The announcement comes a couple of months after Hailo announced a $120 million funding round.
Raspberry Pi’s AI Kit includes the newly-announced Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+, and the Hailo-8L M.2 AI acceleration module with up to 13 TOPS of inferencing performance. The Hailo 8L was announced in August 2023, and at that time was described as an “entry-level” and low-cost AI processor. This kit is fully integrated with Raspberry Pi’s camera software stack and supports numerous out-of-the-box AI applications through Hailo’s software suite and model zoo.
“Our collaboration with Hailo enables Raspberry Pi’s industrial customers to integrate AI into high-performance solutions that are extremely cost-effective and power-efficient. For enthusiasts, the AI Kit provides an accessible way to enhance their creative projects with AI,” Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi CEO, said. “Hailo’s combination of high-compute power and low power consumption make it an incredibly attractive AI solution for professionals and enthusiasts alike.”
Raspberry Pi last year gained a strategic investment from Sony Semiconductor Solutions, manufacturer of Raspberry Pi’s small, low-cost boards.
Hailo added that to support the growing community of Hailo developers, as well as the new Raspberry Pi users, Hailo is introducing an online developer community featuring tutorials, FAQs, and other resources to foster innovation among creators and developers. Registered members will have the opportunity to engage with a team of Hailo experts and connect with each other to share code, experiences, resources, knowledge, and more.