Create an AI-Driven Smart Home Security System

Part 1- Setup and First Steps of the Raspberry Pi AI Kit

- Dhairya Parikh

Artificial intelligence has become a game-changer in various domains, and the Raspberry Pi community is no exception. In the first of this three-part series on creating a Smart Home Security System from scratch, Dhairya guides you through the essentials of setting up and testing a Raspberry Pi 5 with an AI Kit and camera module, and then running your first AI model.

With the introduction of tools based on large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Claude, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken center stage in recent years, pushing industries to adopt cutting-edge, AI-based solutions. This surge in AI innovation has trickled down to the consumer level, making it easier than ever to harness AI for everyday use.

Artificial intelligence has become a game-changer in various domains, and the Raspberry Pi community is no exception. To ride this wave of innovation, the Raspberry Pi AI Kit (Figure 1) is here to revolutionize the way we use Raspberry Pi for AI-powered applications. Developed by Hailo in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi team, this kit supercharges the Raspberry Pi, enabling it to handle sophisticated AI tasks with ease. This affordable and accessible hardware empowers tech enthusiasts and beginners alike to set up a reliable, AI-driven system right at home-leveraging object detection, real-time alerts, and seamless integration with smart devices. It's a practical step into the AI-powered future, demonstrating how AI can enhance safety and convenience in our daily lives.

Previously, running AI applications on the Raspberry Pi was a challenging task, because of its low-power CPU and GPU combination. The AI kit provides a dedicated GPU for AI-related tasks, making it an important component for anyone who uses Raspberry Pi for AI-based applications-specifically vision-based projects that use a camera and perform inferences based on what they see.