After microcontrollers and embedded programming for, ermm, the sake of programming, the next hot thing is: AI at DIY level. Even Google are on it, witness Billy Rutledge, Director of AIY Projects recently posting this on the Google developer website: “We are continually inspired by how Makers use Google technology to do crazy, cool new things. Things we would've never imagined doing ourselves, things that solve real world problems. After talking to Maker community members, we learned that many were interested in using artificial intelligence in projects, but didn't know where to begin. To address this gap, we're launching AIY Projects: do-it-yourself artificial intelligence for Makers.”

With AIY Projects, Google claims, Makers can use artificial intelligence to make human-to-machine interaction more like human-to-human interactions. They promise to release a series of reference kits, starting with voice recognition.
The speech recognition capability in AIY’s first project is using the Raspberry Pi, along with a voice HAT (Hardware Accessory on Top) for the audio capture. The HAT contains hardware for audio capture and playback and was designed and tested with the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. Wow! Well spotted Google!

Apparently the AI kit is shipping to subscribers of Raspberry Pi Magazine, but the complete kit should also be for sale shortly at UK retailers such as WH Smith, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Asda.

For Android Things developers wanting to implement the Voice kit, there’s the Android Things developer preview (v3) to download.

Further information at: aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/voice/