The Google AIY Projects Voice Kit Is Now Available for Pre-Order from Micro Center
In May, issue 57 of the Mag Pi came bundled with a Google project kit that enabled you to add voice interaction to your Raspberry Pi…
In May, issue 57 of the Mag Pi came bundled with a Google project kit that enabled you to add voice interaction to your Raspberry Pi projects using Google’s Voice Assistant.
The magazine sold out in hours, and everyone that missed out on getting one has been waiting to see if there would be another run of the kit. Today we found out that there will be a retail version, and it has just been made available for pre-order at Micro Center.
If the reaction to the Pi Hut getting their hands on some copies of Issue 57, returned by brick and mortar stores for cosmetic damage, is anything to go by — they sold out in just 17 minutes — then the new run of AIY Project Voice Kits are probably going to move off the shelves fairly briskly.
“The positive reception to Voice Kit has encouraged us to keep the momentum going with more AIY Projects. We’ll soon bring makers the ‘eyes,’ ‘ears,’ ‘voice’ and sense of ‘balance’ to allow simple, powerful device interfaces.” — Google.
I managed to pick up a copy of the magazine when it came out while running for a train, and the kit has sat on my shelf ever since. However, ahead of today’s preorder announcement, it was very much time to take it out the box and put it together.
The new kits are being produced by Google, and will be sold by Micro Center and through resellers like Adafruit, and SeeedStudio. It will be priced at $25 on its own, but is also being offered free so long as you order a Raspberry Pi 3 at $35 for in-store pickup from any Micro Center store.
Pre-orders for the retail version of the kit opened at 9am EDT (6am PDT) today. However the kits themselves aren’t expected to be on shelves till nearer the end of October. That is, if they make it as far as the shelves, and don’t sell out before that.
UPDATE: The new retail version of AIY Projects Voice Kit will be available in the United Kingdom through Pimoroni, and cost £25. You can expect shipping dates for kits ordered in through them to be similar to those ordered from Micro Center.
UPDATE: Although their deal for a free kit when you buy a Raspberry Pi 3 at $35 remains for in-store collection only.After only being available for in-store collection for most of the day, you can now pre-order the AIY Projects Voice Kit from Micro Center for shipping.