AMD has just released a chip for robots –yes, you can buy it to try building your life-size Mech
AMD has strengthened its Kria portfolio of adaptive system-on-module (SOM) cards with the K24 and KD240 Drives Starter Kit, which are designed to control electric motors in robotic systems.
With this new platform, Kria aims to lower the barrier to entry for using chips designed for robotics Serve the House.
Starting at $250, the K24 SOM and its starter kit target cost-sensitive industries and commercial use cases.
It could be used in electric motor systems, robotics for factory automation, power generation and public transportation, including elevators and trains. It can also be incorporated into medical systems, including robotic surgical equipment and MRI beds.
Robotics made simple
Armed with a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor and a dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F real-time processor, and running Ubuntu, the K24 is an entry-level module of sorts. It also features a Mali-400 MP2 GPU and an AMD Deep Learning Processor, in addition to 2 GB of LPDDR4 RAM.
It is much more accessible than the souped-up K26, and is specifically tailored for computing and input/output (I/O) motor control. What makes it especially useful for motor control is its lower latency than comparable units, with the K24 pushing out 120 ns, which AMD says is half the 276 ns of Texas Instruments’ AM64XX.
However, thanks to a compatible connector, the K24 can be used in combination with the K26 in the same robot systems.
Thanks to the integrated flared packaging, it is also about half the size of a credit card. As a result, it consumes much less power than other options on the market; it only consumes half as much power as the aforementioned K26.
Kria’s starter kit, meanwhile, includes a range of additional components that make building robotic systems much faster and easier, even at home. This comes in addition to a second starter kit, the REB Robotics 2-in-1 Motor Kit Accessory, due out in the near future.
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