Raspberry Pi Official Magazine #156

Editor This month, editor Lucy's cat has trained her to ‘object detect’ the more expensive cat food in the supermarket. rpimag.co What if your next computer was powerful, incredibly efficient, and saved you a fortune? For years, I've had a Raspberry Pi computer on my desk and it's time you rediscovered why we live and breathe this machine. Raspberry Pi's fast Arm architecture and Linux-based operating system runs liberating open-source software that matches, or exceeds, closed-source equivalents. It runs cooler than traditional fan-powered desktops, its minimal footprint frees up space, and its dramatically lower purchase and operating costs are a game-changer. Whether you prefer a robust local Linux setup, or seamless integration with cloud-based powerhouses like Google Workspace, Windows 365, and other SaaS services, Raspberry Pi handles it with ease.…

Sixfab has announced a Kickstarter campaign for its new ALPON X5 AI. The product is a “high-performance edge computing solution designed for AI-driven applications,” says Okan Saracoglu, VP, Growth at Sixfab. Built around Compute Module 5, the ALPON X5 AI brings high-performance edge computing to the operational space. On-device AI is superior to cloud processing, which struggles with latency, bandwidth constraints, and transfer costs. The ALPON X5 AI combines Raspberry Pi technology with DEEPX DX-M1 – a new AI acceleration chip from South Korea. The DX-M1 provides up to 26 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second). Like Raspberry Pi AI HAT+, this is a formidable capacity for an edge device that enables real-time AI inference tasks. It supports the following SOTA (state-of-the-art) models: ResNet, MobileNet v1/v2/v3 SSD, EfficientNet, EfficientDet, YOLOv5, YOLOv7,…

Raspberry Pi has announced a new product for industrial customers: Camera Module 3 Sensor Assembly. Camera Module 3 Sensor Assembly (rpimag.co/cam3sensorassembly) enables customers to integrate Camera Module 3 into their own compact designs. It contains the same sensor and autofocus functionalities as the flagship Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3. “Since its launch two-and-a-half years ago, our 12-megapixel autofocus Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 has found a home in countless enthusiast projects, and in a wide range of industrial and embedded applications,” says Mike Buffham, director of product management at Raspberry Pi. “But we've found that some of our embedded customers want to integrate our camera technology into smaller form factors than our 25 × 24mm module footprint can support.” Cameras are the original Raspberry Pi accessory It enables customers to…

Raspberry Pi has unveiled a new product for embedded systems and product development: Radio Module 2 (RM2). Priced at $4, RM2 is a compact, precertified module designed to simplify the integration of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality into custom printed circuit board (PCB) designs. It is “an ideal choice for RP2040– and RP2350-based products that require turnkey wireless connectivity,” says Eben Upton, CEO and co-founder of Raspberry Pi (rpimag.co/rm2blog). Writing on the Raspberry Pi blog, he explains: “Every Raspberry Pi computer since Raspberry Pi 3B+ has been a ‘module’ from a conformance perspective: because we isolate the radio frequency components under a shield can, you can build your own wireless-enabled product around ours without having to re-certify the radio, saving tens of thousands of dollars.” Radio Module 2 comes with full…

Maker Sergey is an embedded systems engineer specialising in real-time system software and sensor integration for self-driving cars and delivery robots. rpimag.co/rpimidisynth Although it's often considered to be a quaint, old-fashioned instrument in large parts of Europe and North America, the accordion is more popular than you may think. As well as playing a significant role in traditional, folk and ethnic music, it's used to produce jazz, pop and classical tunes. It's also of great cultural importance and a great symbol of musical expression. Sergey Antonovich is certainly a fan and he loves to play the button accordion. He also spends a good chunk of his free time studying music theory and creating digital music instruments and accessories. To that end, he's been working on bringing digital synthesiser capabilities to…

Maker Daniel enjoys creating robots and mechatronic projects and is a big advocate for using them as an educational tool. rpimag.co/vexrobots Younger years absorbed in various sci-fi films and TV shows such as Forbidden Planet, Silent Running, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Lost in Space led to embedded software engineer Daniel Ramirez's abiding interest in robots and his first forays into electronics. When he chanced upon an R2-D2 shell in his local hypermarket, Daniel saw a chance to combine his technological know-how with his sci-fi dreams. At first, the R2-D2 toy sat in his room “looking expectantly at me like Pinocchio looked at Geppetto, wondering when it could start moving around on its own”. Feeling “a little bit guilty”, Dan began looking for suitable parts with which to animate R2-D2.…