This thing is a kit, and also a Raspberry Pi or Banana Pi controller, and possibly one of the best modular kits of this year. It’s the PiKit. The kit is in the prototype stage but has good chances of being produced on a large scale.
I like the PiKit because borrow the modularity concept of the LEGO kits and let you unleash the potential of the Raspberry Pi or Banana Pi for automation and robot projects. More than that, the little box can be connected to displays, buttons, wheeled and legged platforms.
With this modular kit anyone can build wheeled and legged robots. All these projects are controlled with a little box that hosts the Pi or Banana Pi computer and a series of connectors designed to attach a wide range of add-in modules.
With a Linux single board computer inside it, the controller box can run computer vision applications, interact with users through different sensors and accessories, and even be part of the system called Internet of Things. The PiController can be connected to the Internet and let you control a robot or any other project via the Internet using a simple application and a smartphone or a tablet.
Coming back to the modular system, every module of the kit has its own control library in order to avoid the base level coding for GPIO pins.
A camera mounted on the head module gives you the ability to stream a video to a computer or a gadget, and if you want to go ahead with computer vision applications, you can get all the power of the OpenCV library.
The ear of your project is a microphone mounted on the head module. The microphone is the input for speech commands, while the speaker is the output.
The PiKit promises a certain level of autonomy and interaction. Thereby, the kit extends their tentacles to the corners of teamwork and creativity.
The PiKit presentation