Small, measuring 60x67mm, it includes a 7 x 7 matrix of RGB LEDs, a loudspeaker and a microphone. “It can be used for games, to listen to music, sample music recordings and be programmed as a voice controlled Raspberry Pi,” said RS components, which is stocking pi-topPulse.

Playing Snake on pi-topPulse

Its aim is to add art to technical subjects for learning.

“Although children love technology, there is often a difficulty when it comes to keeping them engaged for long periods of time without an interactive and creative based exercise,” said pi-top founder Jesse Lozano. “Therefore, the inclusion of art within STEAM is vital. Arts encourage the development of visual-spatial skills, an increased practice in problem solving, and collaboration as kids contribute to creative projects.”

Pi-topCeed with pi-topPulse installed

It comes assembled and ready to go, and includes magnetic stand-offs that can be added to the Raspberry Pi if used as a HAT

A suite of python libraries is provided, with example programs and demos, and pi-top lesson plans (pi-topOS only) are available.

For voice control, is can be integrated with Amazon cloud-based Alexa.

Ceed is the company behind pi-top. The computer was created in 2014 by two friends crowdfunding on Indiegogo.