An AI module for the Pi 5

Turbocharge Your Raspberry Pi

© Lead Image © Liubomyr Feshchyn, 123RF.com

© Lead Image © Liubomyr Feshchyn, 123RF.com

Article from Issue 292/2025
Author(s):

What happens when the Raspberry Pi's makers and AI specialist Hailo collaborate on a project? We get an official AI kit HAT+ for the Pi 5 that adds an AI accelerator chip.

The Raspberry Pi AI Kit [1] consists of two components: a generic M.2 HAT+, an adaptor board that lets you connect any two M.2 modules (e.g., for NVMe storage) to the Raspberry Pi 5 and therefore directly to the PCI bus, and a Hailo-8L AI accelerator, which could also be installed on any other computer with an M.2 interface. This entry-level AI chip achieves a performance of 13 TOPS, which is half the number of tera-operations per second that you'd get with the standard Hailo-8 model.

As a first step, you need to assemble the system. Fit the four spacers, a GPIO extension connector, and a PCIe extension cable on the Raspberry Pi. Then slot the M.2 HAT+ onto the spacers and plug the ribbon cable into the connector on the HAT. Figure 1 shows the fully assembled, working system.

After restarting the Raspberry Pi, the Hailo board appears in the lspci output as shown in Listing 1. The second line reveals that the installation of the AI accelerator was successful.

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Affordable AI

    Raspberry Pi enters the artificial intelligence accelerator fray with a low-cost solution.

  • TensorFlow AI on the Pi

    You don't need a powerful computer system to use AI. We show what it takes to benefit from AI on the Raspberry Pi and what tasks the small computer can handle.

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News