Say goodbye to DIY and hello to Do-it-yourself Artificial Intelligence (AIY) – Google AIY kits let you create your own smart gadget

The only that doesn’t change in technology is change itself. In the not so distant future, advances in artificial intelligence will usher in a new era of “Do-it-yourself” projects with what Google is now calling AIY. AIY is acronym for Do-it-yourself Artificial Intelligence (AiY).  Last year, Google launched AIY projects to give makers the power to build AI into their projects with two do-it-yourself kits.

There is a huge demand for kits, especially especially from the STEM audience where parents and teachers alike have found the products to be great tools for the classroom. With the advances in technology, the changing nature of work in the future means students may have jobs that haven’t yet been imagined. This means it will be crucial to that students have the skill it takes to survive in the future. Skills like computer science, analytical thinking and creative problem solving will be vital to the success of future workers.

The project comes with two new “AIY” (it’s like DIY, but for artificial intelligence) kits that build upon the ideas the company set forth with its first-generation kits. The two kits: Vision Kit and Voice Kit. The AIY Vision Kit lets you build your own intelligent camera that can see and recognize objects using machine learning. The AIY Voice Kit lets you build your own natural language processor and connect it to the Google Assistant. All of this fits in a handy little cardboard cube, powered by a Raspberry Pi. The Voice Kit lets anyone build a voice controlled speaker, while the Vision Kit lets anyone can build a camera that learns to recognize people and objects (check it out here). The new kits make getting started a little easier with clearer instructions, a new app and all the parts in one box.

Google does not end there, the company is taking extra steps to help educators integrate AIY into STEM lesson plans and help prepare students for the challenges of the future by launching a new version of our AIY kits. To make things easier for makers, Google announced today in a blog post the redesigned and updated AiY kits. Both kits have now been redesigned to work with the new Raspberry Pi Zero WH, which comes included in the box, along with the USB connector cable and pre-provisioned SD card. Now users no longer need to download the software image and can get running faster. The updated AIY Vision Kit v1.1 also includes the Raspberry Pi Camera v2.

  

AIY Voice Kit v2 includes Raspberry Pi Zero WH and pre-provisioned SD card

AIY Vision Kit v1.1 includes Raspberry Pi Zero WH, Raspberry Pi Cam 2 and pre-provisioned SD card

Google also introduced the AIY companion app for Android, available here in Google Play, to make wireless setup and configuration a snap. The kits still work with monitor, keyboard and mouse as an alternate path and we’re working on iOS and Chrome companions which will be coming soon.  The new AIY Voice Kit and Vision Kit are available at Target Stores and Target.com (US) this month. Google is also working to make the kits available globally through other retailers worldwide. The Voice Kit is available for $49.99, while the more complex Vision Kit costs $89.99.

Below is a video of how the AiY works. James, AIY Projects engineer, explains the features of the Vision Kit.