Arduino has opened advance orders for VENTUNO Q, a powerful single board computer built to let artificial intelligence sense, decide and act in the physical world without depending on the cloud.
Announced in March and becoming available for advance order on 25 August 2026, the board marks a major step beyond the familiar Arduino microcontroller formula.
What is VENTUNO Q?
VENTUNO Q is an edge AI computer and robotics platform on a single board. It combines a powerful application processor for Linux, artificial intelligence and graphics with a separate microcontroller for precise control of sensors, motors and industrial interfaces. This means one device can interpret information from cameras, microphones and other inputs, make a decision locally, and trigger a physical response in real time.
Unlike a conventional Arduino board, VENTUNO Q is designed to run a full Linux environment, local AI models and familiar development tools. Unlike a standard single board computer, it also includes dedicated support for reliable real time control. The result is a platform intended to reduce the complexity, delay and cost of building an AI computer and a separate controller into the same project.
Use cases
- Autonomous robots: The board can process camera and sensor data, plan a response and control motors for mobile robots, warehouse machines and service robots.
- Industrial automation: Manufacturers can use it for automated inspection, predictive maintenance, motion control and systems that pick and place items.
- Computer vision: Support for several cameras makes it suitable for object tracking, pose detection, quality checks, scene analysis and monitoring from multiple angles.
- Local AI assistants: Language, vision and speech models can run on the device for private assistants, information terminals and machines that must work without a constant cloud connection.
- Natural voice interfaces: Speech recognition and conversion of text to speech can enable equipment, robots and kiosks to understand spoken commands and respond aloud.
- Touch free control: Gesture recognition can support accessible interfaces, public displays and human robot interaction without physical buttons.
- Drones and mobile systems: Fast local inference and precise control can help with navigation, obstacle detection, visual tracking and coordinated movement.
- Smart environments: VENTUNO Q can connect cameras, sensors and actuators in responsive rooms, buildings, laboratories and agricultural systems.
- Research and education: Universities, laboratories and advanced classrooms can use one platform to teach embedded programming, Linux, robotics and edge AI.
- Rapid product development: Teams can move from an early prototype toward a deployable system without rebuilding the project around separate computing and control hardware.
Two brains, one physical AI platform
At the heart of VENTUNO Q is what Arduino calls a dual brain architecture. A Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ 8275 processor supplies the CPU, GPU and neural processing power for complex inference, delivering up to 40 dense TOPS. Alongside it, an STM32H5F5 microcontroller handles actions where timing is critical, with a response in less than one millisecond.
The two processors communicate through a remote procedure call bridge, allowing an AI model to interpret camera, speech or sensor data and then pass instructions directly to motors, GPIO, PWM or CAN FD interfaces. By unifying perception, decision and action, Arduino aims to remove the latency and integration work that often comes with linking a separate AI computer to a controller operating in real time.
Enough headroom for local models
VENTUNO Q includes 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and 64GB of industrial grade eMMC storage, with an M.2 connector for NVMe Gen 4 expansion. That capacity is designed for concurrent inference, multitasking and local data storage, giving projects room to run language, vision and audio models without continually sending data to remote servers.
Arduino highlights support for local large language models, vision language models, speech recognition, conversion of text to speech, gesture recognition, object tracking and pose detection. Optimised models are available through Qualcomm AI Hub and Edge Impulse, while processing on the device may be especially attractive for systems that need low latency, offline deployments and projects where data needs to remain local.
A familiar Arduino route into advanced AI
Software could be the board’s most important feature. Arduino App Lab lets developers combine familiar sketches on the microcontroller with Python scripts and AI models on Linux in a single environment. The main processor ships with Ubuntu, with Debian support planned, while the side responsible for real time control runs Arduino Core on Zephyr RTOS.
VENTUNO Q is not limited to Arduino’s own software. VS Code, PyCharm, Jupyter, Docker and standard Linux tools are supported, giving professional teams the option to retain existing workflows. The board can operate as a standalone Linux computer with a monitor, keyboard and mouse, or connect to a PC through a USB C port or a network connection.
Built for cameras, networks and machines
Connectivity reflects the platform’s robotics and industrial ambitions. VENTUNO Q includes wireless connectivity across three bands using Wi Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 and 2.5Gb Ethernet, along with HDMI and DisplayPort through USB C for video output. Three MIPI CSI camera connectors support computer vision from multiple angles, while USB camera support, audio input and output, two USB 3.0 Type A ports and the JOMEGA expansion header broaden the range of possible peripherals.
Compatibility with ROS 2, motor control in real time and industrial interfaces positions the board for autonomous mobile robots, drones, systems that pick and place items, predictive maintenance, automated inspection and responsive smart environments. Arduino also sees education and research as important uses, particularly where learners need one platform for embedded systems, Linux and modern AI.
Arduino grows up without closing down
The name VENTUNO, Italian for twenty one, arrives in Arduino’s twenty first anniversary year and signals a moment of maturity for the company. The platform is far more capable than the classic boards that made Arduino famous, but the strategy remains recognisable: take a difficult technology and make the path from idea to working prototype shorter.
The key test will be whether VENTUNO Q can balance accessibility with the complexity of advanced AI and robotics. Its specifications put it well beyond a maker board for beginners, but its open Linux tooling, Arduino integration and design on a single board could make it a compelling bridge between rapid prototyping and serious edge deployment.
Official sources