Seeed Studio is making ready to launch what it claims is the “most superior AI digicam” round, the reCamera — a modular RISC-V good digicam platform able to operating laptop imaginative and prescient and synthetic intelligence (CV and AI) fashions on gadget utilizing an built-in one tera-operations per second (TOPS) accelerator.
“reCamera is a mix of a processor and a digicam sensor,” the corporate explains of its creation. “In the present day, as processors (each SOC [System-on-Chip] and MCU [Microcontroller Unit]) have gotten smaller and extra highly effective, it’s now doable to mix the processor with digicam sensors. Actually, many IPCs (IP Cameras) are already utilizing this design to speed up AI detection on edge gadgets. So at the moment, we introduce reCamera, an open-source digicam platform for everybody to play with.”
Whereas there are a number of different good digicam methods in the marketplace, Seeed is hoping to make the reCamera stand out due to a compact footprint and modular design — break up into three boards: the Core Board, the Sensor Board, and the Base board. The Core Board hosts the processor, native storage, and non-obligatory Wi-Fi connectivity; the Sensor Board homes a alternative of picture sensors, with rolling- and global-shutter variants deliberate; and the Base Board supplies USB Sort-C and UART serial connectivity, microSD Card storage, and — model-dependent — options similar to an Ethernet port with Energy-over-Ethernet (PoE) compatibility or CAN bus connectivity.
Two variants of Core Board have been revealed, solely one in all which will likely be accessible at launch: the C1_2002w, which incorporates emmC storage and a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Power (BLE) radio module; a C1_2002 will comply with, which drops the Wi-Fi/BLE radio in favour of additional SDIO and UART connectivity. In each circumstances they’re powered by the Sophgo SG2002, a dual-core chip that provides the consumer’s alternative of Arm Cortex-A53 or T-Head XuanTie C906 RISC-V core alongside an MCS-51 8051-compatible microcontroller core and a one TOPS neural coprocessor for on-device machine studying and synthetic intelligence (ML and AI) duties.
The reCamera is break up throughout three modular boards, one performing as a single-board laptop, one other internet hosting the sensor, and one for exterior connectivity. (📷: Seeed Studio)
The Core Board stacks with the Sensor Board, of which just one is anticipated to be accessible at launch: the S1_OV5647, based mostly on an Omnivision 5 megapixel rolling-shutter picture sensor. Two others have been confirmed as works-in-progress: the S2_IMX335, which makes use of a Sony IMX335 rolling-shutter picture sensor; and the S3_SC130GS, based mostly on a SmartSens one-megapixel international shutter that trades decision for capturing your entire picture in as soon as shot.
The usual Base Board, in the meantime, features a microSD Card slot, an Ethernet single-port transformer module, a UART serial bus, and USB Sort-C connector for information and energy. A “B2” variant swaps from a side-mount to a vertical-mount USB Sort-C port, whereas the “B3_POE” drops the USB connector and microSD Card slot for an Ethernet port with PoE help. The ultimate mannequin, the “B4_Gyro,” comes an on-board gyroscope sensor and a connector for CAN bus connectivity — although all fashions bar the “B1” default had been, on the time of writing, at model 0.1 and usually are not anticipated to be accessible at launch.
Seeed has detailed a trio of companion launches, together with an open-source motorized gimbal. (📷: Seeed Studio)
In all circumstances, the boards are managed utilizing a Linux buildroot system dubbed reCamera OS, which presents an online interface for community configuration, reside view, and a browser-based system for opening a shell on the digicam for command-line management. The accelerator is offered in frameworks together with TensorFlow and PyTorc, Seeed has confirmed, Seed has additionally confirmed three associated tasks: the reCamera Gimbal, which is an open-source motorized gimbal mount and housing for the digicam; the reCamera Industrial, which supplies a rugged housing with tripod mount and interchangeable lens help; and the reCamera Robotic Arm which, because the identify implies, mates the digicam with a robotic arm.
Seed is launching the reCamera at $34.90 for a non-WiFi/BLE model with 8GB eMMC rising to $54.90 for a Wi-Fi/BLE model with 64GB eMMC, and has begun promoting low cost coupons which is able to shave 50% off the price of the top-end mannequin for $5 on the corporate retailer for a restricted variety of early-bird consumers.
Extra info is offered within the mission’s GitHub repository, the place some design recordsdata have been launched below the permissive Apache 2.0 license; the reCamera OS is offered in a separate repository. These enthusiastic about receiving a pattern previous to the official launch, in the meantime, can apply to develop into an alpha tester.
