How to add AI superpowers to your Raspberry Pi

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released the Raspberry Pi AI kit for the Pi 5, but availability is patchy. At the time of writing, I found stock on Amazon and Chicago Electronic Suppliers.
• The kit is an easy way to add AI computational power to the Raspberry Pi 5.
• You have to take measures to prevent overheating.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere — and now it has made its way to the Raspberry Pi. If you want to boost your Raspberry Pi 5 board with AI, the process is simple and affordable. All you need is the AI kit that dropped earlier this month.

The kit includes the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ with a pre-installed M.2 2242-format board equipped with the powerful Hailo 8L AI chip. This Neural Processing Unit (NPU) chip can perform at an impressive 13 trillion operations per second (TOPS). The M.2 HAT+ board, which launched last month, can be used with various M.2 accessories, including storage and AI accelerator boards.

Also: The Raspberry Pi 5 gets an AI upgrade

First off, the NPU comes pre-attached to the HAT+ board. I’ve looked at the device and there’s a thermal pad between the two boards used to dissipate heat generated by the NPU. Yes, you can separate the two boards, but be aware that you will then need a new thermal pad.

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Fitting the board is a straightforward process. All you need is a Raspberry Pi 5 board. If you already have a board with an M.2 HAT+ installed, you’ll need to remove it to make way for the new board. This step is necessary to avoid any complications with the thermal pad.

Fortunately, everything you’ll require is included in the kit. There’s the AI board, a GPIO stacking header, as well as the necessary spacers and screws to ensure a secure fit.

One important component is the tiny ribbon cable connecting the AI board to the PCI Express interface. While the ribbon cables and connectors are relatively robust, you must handle them carefully. 

Also: How to add fast M.2 accessories to your Raspberry Pi 5

To properly connect the cable, gently pull the tabs on either side with a fingernail or a plastic tool. Insert the cable with the copper contact points facing inward, and then secure the ribbon cable firmly by pushing down the cable holder from both sides. 

The AI board can be installed alongside the official Raspberry Pi 5 active cooler. I highly recommend using the active cooler because the Pi 5 and the Hailo 8L NPU generate significant heat. By improving the airflow between the two boards, you can manage the temperature and enhance overall performance.

Once the hardware is connected, insert a microSD card containing the latest Raspberry Pi “Bookworm” operating system into the Pi 5 and boot up the system. 

During the boot-up process, you’ll need to install all the necessary dependencies for the Hailo chip, including drivers, firmware, middleware software, and post-processing libraries. Although this process may sound complex, you can accomplish this task with a single command from the terminal window:

sudo apt install hailo-all

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Raspberry Pi 5 AI kit is a cost-effective and power-efficient solution for adding high-performance AI functionality to your Raspberry Pi 5 board. Use this kit to make your projects more versatile and exciting.

Whether you’re interested in process control, security, home automation, robotics, or any other AI-related applications, the Raspberry Pi 5 AI kit provides an accessible and efficient way to integrate advanced capabilities into your projects.

The problem right now is it’s hard to get the kit. Most of the usual suppliers — Canakit, PiShop.us, and Vilros — show the board as out of stock. Fortunately, Chicago Electronic Suppliers and some Amazon resellers are showing available stock. The Raspberry Pi Foundation says that we can expect supply constraints to improve over the coming weeks.

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