Credit: Corbin Davenport / How-To Geek

Are you ready to tackle some more advanced Raspberry Pi projects? This weekend is the perfect time to take your hobby projects to the next level.

From setting up an AirPlay and Spotify receiver to building out smart air quality monitors and AI-powered wildlife cameras, these three Raspberry Pi projects are sure to be both fun and quite useful.

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B

Brand Raspberry Pi

CPU Cortex-A72 (ARM v8)

Memory 2 GB

With the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, you can create all kinds of fun projects, and upgrade gadgets around your home. Alternatively, install a full desktop OS and use it like a regular computer.

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

Brand Raspberry Pi

CPU Quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53

Memory 512MB of SDRAM

The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is super tiny and super affordable, but it packs enough computing power for a variety of DIY projects. You can use it to create a handheld retro gaming console, for Klipper/Mainsail, a super compact home or media server, and more.

AirPlay or Spotify receiver

Credit: Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek

If you have non-smart speakers around your house, it’s actually easier than you might think to make them targets for things like AirPlay or Spotify Connect. All you need is a spare Raspberry Pi and a few commands in your terminal.

For starters, you’ll want to choose the devices that you want to control your Raspberry Pi with. Apple users will likely want to favor services like AirPlay or Spotify Connect, while Android users will really only be able to use Spotify Connect, as Google’s Chromecast API is pretty locked down.

On the Spotify Connect side of things, you’ll need a premium account and Raspotify. With Raspotify, your Raspberry Pi will turn into a Spotify Connect target, accessible from any device logged into your Spotify account.

However, for those who are in the Apple ecosystem, Shairport Sync is the best tool for the job. It opens up your Raspberry Pi as an AirPlay 1 or a newer AirPlay 2 target, meaning it’ll work within a whole-home audio setup with other Apple speakers.

Sadly, on the Android side of things, Google has locked down the Chromecast Audio API pretty tight and there’s no real reliable way to turn a Raspberry Pi into a Chromecast receiver. You could send Bluetooth audio to it, but you’re then limited by Bluetooth for range and quality.

Subscription with ads No, all are ad-free

Price Starting at $11/month ($6/month for students)

Listen to your favorite songs, artists, and playlists on Apple Music. Stream music in lossless audio, download songs, and play them offline.

Spotify

Subscription with ads No ads on any paid plan

Price Starting at $11.99/month, or $5.99/month for students

Spotify is a pioneer in music streaming. It features a vast library, impressive bitrate, curated and custom playlists, as well as offline streaming. Spotify is available for free and for a monthly or annual fee.

Smart air quality monitor

It’s no secret that air quality is vitally important to our health, so building an air quality monitor to keep on top of VOCs and CO2 is a sensible idea. This smart air quality monitor project is both simple and complex, as there’s quite a few steps to set it up, but none of the steps are all that difficult.

To start with, you’ll need to pick up some specialized hardware to sniff the air around you. I’d recommend starting with the PiicoDev Air Quality Sensor ENS160, which comes with everything you need to get up and going. You’ll also need the PiicoDev Adapter for Raspberry Pi or PiicoDev LiPo Expansion Board for Raspberry Pi Pico, depending on whether you have a traditional Pi or a Pi Pico.

The last thing you’ll need is a PiicoDev Cable. You’ll likely want to get a cable around 100mm in length to have enough space to plug the cord from the Pi to the dev board.

From there, you’ll want to follow the PiicoDev guide to get up and running. It’ll take you step by step through the setup and configuration of the air quality sensor and how to read the data.

This project will definitely take the better part of the weekend, especially if you plan to 3D print any enclosures for your Pi. But, it’ll let you know how the air is in your office, living room, or even outside, making for a fun, yet useful project.

AI-powered wildlife camera

It’s pretty impressive what a little Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W can do, but the capabilities of this small board aren’t limited by its size. Pairing a budget-friendly Pi Zero 2 W with the Raspberry Pi AI Camera, you’re able to do on-device object detection and recognition. This allows you to run specific models to detect wildlife—and even tag what type of animal it is!

Since the Pi Zero 2 W requires so little power, it’s pretty easy to set up a system that can keep it running for days, weeks, or even months if you have a proper solar setup. That’s where the Mini AI Camera project comes in.

Designed to help you get up and running with a fully-functional system to not only detect wildlife, but also store videos of it, the project has a very in-depth video (liked above) that walks you through everything to get it up and running.

The nice thing is that the Mini AI Camera project utilizes local AI models, meaning your wildlife camera can function completely offline anywhere you put it. That makes this project great for setting your camera up in the woods, far away from any Wi-Fi or cellular signal, to capture the animals as they roam in their natural habitat.

With the 3D prints that come with the project, you’ll definitely have your hands full for the weekend getting this set up. But, at the end of the day, you’ll be able to capture and log all the wildlife around your home or property—and that’s a pretty cool task to accomplish.

Credit: Raspberry pi

Raspberry Pi AI Camera

Brand Raspberry Pi

CPU On-module AI processor

The Raspberry Pi AI Camera features Sony’s IMX500 Intelligent Vision Sensor that handles AI processing on-board, making this the ideal camera for your AI-based applications. Compatible with most Raspberry Pi boards, you can leverage the neural network models with the on-module AI processor, regardless of which Raspberry Pi you have.

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There are so many ways to use your Raspberry Pi. From the three projects above to setting up Pi-hole, a website, Docker, and much more, Raspberry Pis are essentially infinitely scalable in what they can do.

If you’re looking for a few more Raspberry Pi projects to try, here are several things you can do in under an hour. Not every project needs to take all weekend, and stuff like Home Assistant can be up and running in just a few minutes—though getting it perfectly configured is a task that can be never-ending.