Minnesota-based electronics distributor DigiKey has launched a rapid engineering kit combining curated hardware with California AIoT firm Machinechat’s Jedi (just enough data intelligence) software, giving engineers a complete, working connected intelligence development platform.

Engineers developing edge AI and IoT products often face difficulties integrating hardware and software into a reliable prototype, which can lead to delays, added complexity and higher costs.

DigiKey and Machinechat have teamed up to create rapid engineering kits that remove those barriers by pairing tested hardware configurations with professional software. The kits are available from DigiKey and help engineers, educators, students and OEMs move from initial setup to field-ready deployment in minutes and easily expand and customise applications with additional sensors and hardware.

“The new rapid engineering kits extend our customers’ trust in DigiKey by providing more complete project starting points, including innovative hardware paired with professional software that works quickly out of the box,” said David Sandys, director at DigiKey (www.digikey.com). “You can think of these as an IoT and connected intelligence application toolkit: the tools, resources, educational content, hardware and software that come with them provide a platform where engineers can focus on their domain expertise, rather than assembling the infrastructure for a target application.”

Sanjeev Datla, CEO of Machinechat (www.machinechat.io), added: “We’ve seen engineers repeatedly hit the same wall: they find the right hardware on DigiKey.com, then spend weeks rebuilding the same software stack for every project, configuring the system, managing its data, visualising its behaviour and turning results into reports. With a rapid engineering kit from DigiKey, an engineer can open the box, connect the hardware, launch the software and put the system to work in minutes, not weeks. That changes the economics of building products with connected intelligence, from IIoT to physical AI, for everyone from students to makers to Fortune 500 R&D teams.”

The kits combine development hardware, sensors, connectivity modules and Jedi software into a single option for fast IoT and edge AI deployment. Each kit includes a lifetime Machinechat Jedi One licence, which provides real-time data collection, customisable dashboards, data storage and automated alerts, all at a reduced cost.

The first kit features the Arduino Uno Q and an Adafruit BME280 environmental sensor for out-of-the-box monitoring of temperature, humidity and pressure. Additional kits for other hardware platforms are planned to help developers scale quickly across a wider range of applications.

For more information, visit www.machinechat.io/digikey-kits-jedi.