Raspberry Pi Smart Money Box With AI Banknote Detection

Smart Money Box is an AI-powered piggy bank built with a Raspberry Pi 5. It uses a camera and a YOLOv26n model to recognize euro banknotes and test monopoly banknotes and automatically update the savings balance after a real deposit is confirmed.

The project combines artificial intelligence, electronics and a custom wooden enclosure. It includes a keypad and LCD display for local interaction, a servo lock controlled by a PIN, LED indicators, a buzzer for feedback and a Gradio interface for monitoring the system, viewing the camera feed, and managing settings. The special part of this project is that the balance is not updated by AI alone, the system also waits for an ultrasonic sensor to confirm that the banknote was really deposited.

The main goal of this project was to create a more interactive and intelligent way of saving money while learning about AI, sensors, hardware integration, and full-stack development.

In this Instructable, I will explain how I designed the box, assembled the electronics, developed the software, trained the AI model, and integrated all parts into a complete working system.