Raspberry Pi launches AI HAT+ in 13 and 26 TOPS variants
More AI-focused add-ons
by Shawn Knight · TechSpotServing tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
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Recap: It has been a busy month for the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Shortly after announcing branded SD cards and a silicon bumper case for the Pi 5, the foundation introduced a series of branded SSDs and SSD kits for their current-gen hobby board. Now, we are getting even more AI-enabled options.
Raspberry Pi has added two new members to its AI product family: the AI HAT+ in 13 TOPS (tera-operations per second) and 26 TOPS variants. Both feature the same Hailo AI accelerator tech that was found in the earlier AI Kit, but there are some differences.
The foundation notes that the Hailo accelerator chip is integrated directly onto the main PCB of the AI HAT+, rather than utilizing the M.2 connector like the AI Kit. The change is said to simplify setup and improve efficiency thanks to enhanced thermal dissipation. PCIe Gen 3.0 mode is used – at least on the 26 TOPS version – to fully leverage the compute power of the Hailo 8 accelerator, the foundation noted.
The 13 TOPS and 26 TOPS models can do the same things; it is just that performance will be better with the faster version. The 26 TOPS variant can also run multiple networks simultaneously at high frame rates. For example, the foundation said it can perform object detection, pose estimation, and subject segmentation on a live video feed all at the same time.
Both also support common frameworks like PyTorch and TensorFlow, and have an operating temperature range of zero degrees C to 50 degrees C.
The Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 13 TOPS variant is priced at $70 while the 26 TOPS model will set you back $110. The foundation notes that both are fully backward compatible with the AI Kit, which arrived this past summer with 13 TOPS of inference performance. The AI HAT+ comes with all of the necessary spacers, screws, and other hardware to mount it to a Raspberry Pi 5, even with an active cooler in place.