01Where AI actually helps
Defect detection that a discrete sensor can't catch, predictive maintenance from raw vibration and current, and optimization where the relationships are too complex to hand-code. These are perception and prediction problems — exactly what ladder logic was never meant to solve.
02Why edge, not cloud
Local inference is faster, survives network outages, keeps proprietary line data on-site, and avoids per-asset cloud inference bills. An accelerator like the Hailo-8 makes real-time vision practical on a node beside the machine.
03Keeping it honest
AI doesn't make a Pi a safety controller, and it shouldn't run a deterministic loop. It's the intelligence layer beside the control layer — additive, not a replacement for certified hardware where safety or hard real-time is required.
Common questions
The ones we're asked on every first call.
Not natively, and not at any price for real vision or ML — it's the one capability a Pi node offers that a PLC fundamentally can't. The common pattern is a Pi running the AI beside the PLC that runs the control.
No — inference runs on the device. Connectivity is only for sending results upstream or updating models over signed OTA, both optional to the core function.
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