The open-hardware Ubo Pod, a private AI assistant designed for hackers, is getting nearer to its launch on Kickstarter. And in preparation for the upcoming launch, the crew has simply given the group a chance to offer enter on a possible new characteristic. For these unfamiliar with the Ubo Pod, it’s powered by a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 single-board pc. And this isn’t your typical, plain-vanilla AI assistant that solely understands voice instructions. It’s designed to be hacked on, so the chances lengthen far past that, together with into video.
The deliberate sideboard (📷: Ubo Pod)
With a Raspberry Pi, that in fact means you will have an HDMI cable (and presumably an adapter) for video, and USB cables for any equipment. That may flip right into a messy tangle of wires actual fast, which is the place the brand new Ubo Pod characteristic is available in. The crew is engaged on giving full USB-C Alt Mode help to the Raspberry Pi. That enables the cable to hold not solely conventional USB knowledge indicators, but additionally video and audio indicators. With this addition, even a touchscreen monitor will be connected to a Raspberry Pi with a single cable.
At current, a board primarily based on a reference design has been developed and demonstrated efficiently. As a subsequent step, the crew is planning to construct the circuit into an Ubo Pod sideboard in order that it may be cleanly built-in with the AI assistant. If that is one thing that you just is likely to be keen on, depart a touch upon the video under and it simply would possibly occur. I don’t learn about you, however it is a characteristic that I’d like to see constructed straight into future Raspberry Pis. That would definitely assist make my workspace rather a lot tidier!