Is the new Raspberry Pi AI Kit better than Google Coral?

Kevin McAleer
4 Jun 202403:48

TLDRRaspberry Pi has introduced a new AI Kit, compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5, priced at $70. It features the Halo AI acceleration module, capable of 13 TOPS, surpassing Google Coral's 4 TOPS. The kit includes the Halo module, M2 hat, mounting hardware, and a stacking GPIO header. It supports multiple cameras and various AI frameworks, offering a cost-effective and power-efficient solution for high-performance AI integration. The demo showcases real-time object detection and pose estimation at 30 frames per second, highlighting the kit's capability to handle AI tasks while the main CPU is free to perform other functions.

Takeaways

  • 📦 Raspberry Pi has introduced a new AI Kit, designed to enhance the AI capabilities of the Raspberry Pi 5.
  • 💲 The AI Kit is affordably priced at $70, making it accessible for a wide range of users.
  • 🔗 The kit includes the Halo AI acceleration module, which is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5 via a PCIe Generation 3 connection.
  • 🚀 The Halo module boasts a top performance of 13 TOPS, outperforming Google Coral's 4 TOPS.
  • 🔋 The Halo module achieves a higher efficiency with 3 TOPS per watt compared to Google Coral's 2 TOPS per watt.
  • 🌐 The AI Kit supports a broader range of AI frameworks, offering more flexibility for developers.
  • 📦 The kit comes with the M2 hat, mounting hardware, and a stacking GPIO header, making it easy to set up.
  • 📷 The kit is designed to work with multiple cameras simultaneously, expanding its potential use cases.
  • 📱 The unboxing experience includes all necessary components, such as the Raspberry Pi 5, power supply, and pre-release software.
  • 🎥 The AI module can perform real-time object detection and tracking at 30 frames per second, showcasing its processing power.
  • 🤖 The AI Kit is capable of running various AI models, including YOLO 5, YOLO 8, and pose estimation models, demonstrating its versatility.

Q & A

  • What is the new Raspberry Pi AI Kit?

    -The new Raspberry Pi AI Kit is a bundle that includes the Raspberry Pi M2 HAT with the Halo AI acceleration module, designed to integrate high-performance AI capabilities with a Raspberry Pi 5 at an accessible cost.

  • What is the cost of the Raspberry Pi AI Kit?

    -The Raspberry Pi AI Kit costs $70.

  • How does the Raspberry Pi AI Kit compare to Google Coral in terms of performance?

    -The Halo module in the Raspberry Pi AI Kit can perform up to 13 TOPS, which is three times faster than Google Coral's 4 TOPS, and has a more efficient core with 3 TOPS per watt compared to Google Coral's 2 TOPS per watt.

  • What is included in the Raspberry Pi AI Kit box?

    -The box contains the Halo module, the M2 HAT, mounting hardware, and a stacking GPIO header.

  • What is the purpose of the PCIe Generation 3 Connection on the Halo module?

    -The PCIe Generation 3 Connection allows the Halo module to connect to the Raspberry Pi 5 and share its inference engine across multiple cameras concurrently.

  • How does the Raspberry Pi AI Kit support different AI models?

    -The Raspberry Pi AI Kit supports a variety of AI models, including YOLOv5, YOLOv8, and YOLOX, for object detection and segmentation.

  • What is the frame rate of the AI module when running the RPI cam hello program?

    -The AI module can process at 30 frames per second when running the RPI cam hello program.

  • What additional components did Raspberry Pi send for testing the AI Kit?

    -Raspberry Pi also sent a Raspberry Pi 5, a power supply, a microSD card with pre-release software, and a camera module 3 for testing the AI Kit.

  • How easy is it to attach cameras with the Raspberry Pi AI Kit?

    -The Raspberry Pi AI Kit's M2 HAT has a cutout for camera cables, making it very easy to attach cameras.

  • What is the pose estimation feature demonstrated in the script?

    -The pose estimation feature is an AI model that can detect and analyze human body movements, as demonstrated by the presenter dancing in front of the camera.

  • What is the significance of the updated libraries in the Raspberry Pi OS for the AI Kit?

    -The updated libraries in the Raspberry Pi OS allow for post-processing using the AI module, enabling the main CPU to perform other tasks while the AI module handles object detection and other AI workloads.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Introduction to Raspberry Pi's AI Kit

Raspberry Pi has introduced a new AI kit designed to enhance the AI capabilities of the Raspberry Pi 5 at a cost of $70. This kit is a direct competitor to other boards like Google Coral. The kit includes an M2 hat with a Halo AI acceleration module, which is pre-attached, making it convenient for users. The Halo module is equipped with a neural processing unit capable of performing up to 13 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), offering high inference performance. It connects to the Raspberry Pi 5 via a PCIe Generation 3 connection, allowing for the sharing of the inference engine across multiple cameras. The video also mentions the kit's broader support for new network frameworks compared to Google Coral, which can only perform up to 4 TOPS and is integrated with TensorFlow Lite.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Raspberry Pi AI Kit

The Raspberry Pi AI Kit is a newly released accessory designed to enhance the AI capabilities of the Raspberry Pi 5. It includes the Hailo-8L AI accelerator, which offers 13 TOPS of inferencing performance and is seamlessly integrated with the Raspberry Pi's software ecosystem. The kit is marketed as a cost-effective and energy-efficient solution for high-performance AI applications, providing an alternative to other AI accelerators such as Google Coral. It supports various AI frameworks and is suitable for applications like object detection, image segmentation, and pose estimation. As mentioned in the review by Tom's Hardware, the kit also includes a pre-installed thermal pad for heat management and is compatible with Raspberry Pi's camera software, making it an ideal choice for vision-based AI applications [^1^].

💡Hailo-8L AI Accelerator

The Hailo-8L AI Accelerator is the core component of the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, providing significant AI processing power. It is capable of performing up to 13 tera-operations per second (TOPS), which is a measure of its inferencing performance. This makes it a powerful tool for running AI models and is particularly useful for tasks such as image recognition and machine learning. The Hailo-8L connects to the Raspberry Pi 5 via a PCIe Generation 3 Connection, allowing it to share its inference engine across multiple cameras concurrently. It also has a more efficient core with 3 TOPS per watt, outperforming the Google Coral in both performance and efficiency [^1^].

💡Google Coral

Google Coral refers to a series of AI accelerators by Google that are designed to enhance on-device machine learning capabilities. The Coral devices, such as the Coral USB Accelerator and Coral Edge TPU, are known for their integration with TensorFlow Lite and their performance of up to 4 TOPS. They are often used in projects requiring fast and efficient AI processing. However, when compared to the Raspberry Pi AI Kit's Hailo-8L AI accelerator, the Coral devices may offer less performance, with 4 TOPS and 2 TOPS per watt, as noted in the comprehensive comparison by Geeky-Gadgets [^10^].

💡TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second)

TOPS, or Tera Operations Per Second, is a performance metric used to measure the processing capability of AI accelerators. It indicates the number of trillion operations that an AI accelerator can perform in one second. A higher TOPS rating means the accelerator can process more data at a faster rate, which is crucial for complex AI tasks. The Raspberry Pi AI Kit's Hailo-8L AI accelerator boasts 13 TOPS, which is a significant improvement over the Google Coral's 4 TOPS, making it more suitable for high-performance AI applications [^10^].

💡Neural Processing Unit (NPU)

A Neural Processing Unit is a type of processor specifically designed to accelerate neural network computations, which are fundamental to AI and machine learning tasks. The Hailo-8L AI accelerator in the Raspberry Pi AI Kit contains an NPU that can efficiently handle post-processing tasks for AI applications. This allows the main CPU to focus on other tasks, enhancing the overall performance of the system. The NPU's efficiency is highlighted by its ability to run multiple neural networks on multiple cameras concurrently [^10^].

💡AI Frameworks

AI frameworks are software libraries and tools that help developers build and train AI models. The Raspberry Pi AI Kit supports a wide range of AI frameworks, including TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, Keras, PyTorch, and ONNX. This broad support allows developers to use the kit with their preferred frameworks, making it versatile for various AI applications. The compatibility with first-party or third-party cameras also expands the kit's usability for vision-based AI tasks [^10^].

💡Raspberry Pi 5

The Raspberry Pi 5 is the latest single-board computer from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, designed to be more powerful than its predecessors. It serves as the host platform for the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, providing the necessary computing power and connectivity to support the AI accelerator. The Raspberry Pi 5's compatibility with the AI Kit is seamless, with the Raspberry Pi OS automatically detecting and integrating the Hailo-8L accelerator, making it an ideal choice for AI projects [^10^].

💡M.2 HAT+

The M.2 HAT+ is an interface board for the Raspberry Pi that allows the connection of M.2 devices, such as the Hailo-8L AI accelerator. It is designed to fit onto the Raspberry Pi 5 and provides a single-lane PCIe 3.0 connection running at 8Gbps, ensuring robust and reliable connectivity between the Raspberry Pi and the AI accelerator. The M.2 HAT+ is pre-installed with the Hailo-8L in the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, simplifying the assembly process for users [^10^].

💡Object Detection

Object detection is an AI application that involves identifying and locating multiple objects in an image or video. The Raspberry Pi AI Kit, with its Hailo-8L AI accelerator, is capable of performing object detection efficiently. It can detect multiple objects simultaneously without significant strain on the system, as demonstrated in the video by Jeff Geerling, where the kit successfully detects and identifies various objects in real-time [^19^].

Highlights

Raspberry Pi has announced a new AI kit for the Raspberry Pi 5, priced at $70.

The AI kit includes the Halo AI acceleration module for high-performance AI integration.

The Halo 8l module contains a neural processing unit capable of 13 TOPS of inference performance.

The kit connects to the Raspberry Pi 5 via a PCIe Generation 3 connection.

It can share the inference engine across multiple cameras simultaneously.

Google Coral performs up to 4 TOPS compared to the 13 TOPS of the Halo module.

Coral is integrated with TensorFlow Lite, while Halo offers broader support for new network frameworks.

The Halo 8 is three times faster than Google Coral with a more efficient core at 3 TOPS per watt.

The AI kit includes the M2 hat, Halo module, mounting hardware, and a stacking GPIO header.

The kit is designed for easy attachment of camera cables with a cut-out for camera connections.

The Raspberry Pi OS has updated libraries for AI module postprocessing.

The AI module allows the main CPU to perform other tasks while handling AI workloads.

The AI module can detect multiple objects simultaneously at 30 frames per second.

Different AI models are available, including YOLOv5, YOLOv8, and YOLOX.

A segmentation model is included for object-background separation.

Pose estimation is also possible with the AI module.

The AI kit is user-friendly and comes with pre-release software for testing.

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