Google Raspberry Pi Kits

Google wants to make it easier than ever to build your

own smart home gadgets. The search giant's latest kits

hit Target stores this month and include everything you

need to make either a smart speaker similar to a Google

Home or a smart home camera that can recognize faces

and expressions.

The kits are called the AIY Voice and AIY Vision kits

respectively. AIY stands for "Artificial Intelligence

Yourself." It's a take on Do It Yourself (DIY) for smart tech.

The idea of both kits is that you can use the included

pieces to build a fairly advanced piece of tech on your own.

Google might be hoping that with these tools, its community

of developers will be able to find ways to make smart

speakers and smart cameras even smarter. In Monday's

blog post announcing the updated Kits, Google also

expressed an interest in helping teach students computer

science skills.

Google previously released both kits in 2017, but the

limited releases did not include some of the necessary

pieces such as the actual processing unit. Both kits are

meant to be used with the Raspberry Pi brand of micro-

computer popular with programmers, but you had to buy

the Raspberry Pi separately.

The updated kits will include a Raspberry Pi processing

unit (specifically the Raspberry Pi Zero WH) and the

Vision Kit will include a Raspberry Pi camera as well.

Clearer directions will also be included in the box. Plus,

Google's releasing a companion app to walk you through

the process of making your own smart gadget, and Google's

AIY website will have updated documentation.