Raspberry Pi ventures into AI with a camera and on-device processing
Raspberry Pi has joined the world of AI with a new camera that processes visual data with AI models on the device. The $70 Raspberry Pi AI Camera was built in collaboration with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (SSS).
The camera contains Sony’s intelligent vision sensor IMX500 to process images with AI on the chip. That means there is no need for high-end GPUs or accelerators. It is compatible with Raspberry Pi single-board computers, making it relatively cheap and easy to create AI tools that rely on images.
The AI camera has approximately 12.3 megapixels and can film at ten frames per second at 4056 x 3040 or 40 fps at 2028 x 1520. The built-in neural network firmware runs the AI image processing on the camera. This allows the Raspberry to handle other elements of an integrated device, opening up options for Raspberry Pi users who don’t want to use the Raspberry Pi AI Kit alone.
Raspberry AI
The on-chip AI processing reduces the load on the host device and enables real-time data processing without the need for cloud-based computing power. Processing data locally makes for faster, more efficient AI tools. Because it is compatible with much of the Raspberry Pi ecosystem, users can still use hardware and software libraries they are familiar with and enjoy using. For example, the AI Camera is compatible with popular libraries such as lib-camera and Picamera2.
“AI-based image processing is becoming an attractive tool for developers around the world,” said Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Ltd. “Together with our long-standing image sensor partner Sony Semiconductor Solutions, we developed the Raspberry Pi AI Camera, which integrates Sony’s expertise in the field of image sensors. We look forward to seeing what our community members can achieve using the power of the Raspberry Pi AI Camera.”