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Raspberry Pi’s Hailo 8L AI kit for complex AI vision applications

Wed, Dec 18, 2024

Mouser is now stocking the Hailo 8L AI kit from Raspberry Pi. The AI kit, which combines the pre-installed Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ with an M.2-format Hailo 8L AI accelerator, is ready to use out of the box. The Hailo 8L AI kit provides a cost-effective and power-efficient way to integrate high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) in applications, including process control, security, home automation, voice recognition, and robotics.

The Raspberry Pi Hailo 8L AI kit is a 13 tera-operations per second (TOPS) neural network inference accelerator built around the Hailo 8L chip. When installed on a Raspberry Pi 5, the kit allows users to quickly create complex AI vision applications with low latency and minimal power requirements. Neural networks for facial landmarking, instance segmentation, object detection, and other tasks run entirely on the Hailo 8L module, leaving the Raspberry Pi 5’s CPU free to handle different processes. A thermal pad, pre-fitted between the module and the HAT+, spreads heat across components to improve performance and ensure consistent operation.

The Hailo 8L AI Kit includes a 16mm stacking header, spacers, and screws for easy installation in a Raspberry Pi 5 with the Raspberry Pi Active Cooler in place. Fully integrated into Raspberry Pi’s camera software stack, the kit simplifies image processing for real-world, AI-based vision applications. The Hailo 8L AI Kit meets Raspberry Pi’s HAT+ specification and has an operating temperature range of 0℃ to 50℃.

https://www.mouser.com

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Microchip expands PolarFire FPGA and SoC solution stacks

Fri, Dec 13, 2024

The rise of IoT, industrial automation and smart robotics, along with the proliferation of medical imaging solutions to the intelligent edge, has made designing these types of power and thermally constrained applications more complex than ever before. To address the critical challenges of accelerating product development cycles and easing complicated development processes, Microchip has released PolarFire FPGA and SoC solution stacks for smart robotics and medical imaging. These new releases build upon Microchip’s smart embedded vision, industrial edge and intelligent edge communications stacks already available.

The solution stacks include firmware and IP cores for AI-assisted 4K60 computer vision, a diverse set of ready-to-use sensor and camera interfaces and integrated hardware for high-speed Ethernet protocols. Real-time ROS-2 compatible cores facilitate robotics tasks for perception and coordinate transformation. The stacks offer time-sensitive industrial networking protocols for OPC/UA, rich operating systems support and asymmetric processing commonly used in industrial automation. Software design kits allow for a high-level of customisation and support diverse development environments centred around C/C++, RTL and popular machine learning frameworks, including the SmartHLS IDE, VectorBlox Accelerator SDK and the and Libero SoC Design Suite which has been certified for applications needing IEC61503 SIL 3 functional safety. The solution stacks bring together the industry’s most power-efficient and secure mid-range PolarFire FPGAs and PolarFire SoC FPGAs, a rich mix of hardware and software solutions with cyber security protections that allow system designers the freedom to innovate in medical imaging and robotics applications.

One example of Microchip’s innovative solution stacks can be found in its recently announced PolarFire FPGA Ethernet Sensor Bridge that works with the NVIDIA Holoscan sensor processing platform. With its ability to bridge real-time sensor data to NVIDIA Holoscan and the NVIDIA IGX and NVIDIA Jetson platforms for edge AI and robotics, the Sensor Bridge unlocks new edge-to-cloud applications, enables AI/ML inferencing and facilitates the adoption of AI in medical, industrial and automotive markets.

https://www.microchip.com

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Sfera Labs Strato Pi Max is now powered by the Raspberry Pi compute module 5

Thu, Dec 12, 2024

Sfera Labs has announced the latest evolution of its Strato Pi Max platform, incorporating the latest Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 (CM5).

Strato Pi Max is a versatile Raspberry Pi Controller and features a modular design, a hybrid CPU/MCU architecture, and extensive customisation options. This adaptability enables the Strato Pi Max to support bespoke requirements of all industrial automation projects, as well as to evolve with them.

Housed in a compact, 9- or 6-module DIN-Rail case, Strato Pi Max features two Ethernet ports, SSD, eMMC and dual SD card storage options, as well as two USB 2.0 type-A ports, with individual power control and fault detection. The platform also incorporates a slate of robust reliability and security features, including redundant storage, secure element chip, tamper detection, and hardware watchdog.

The Strato Pi Max can be easily expanded via its X2-Series expansion boards in order to meet the specific needs of industrial automation projects. These expansion boards can add up to 16 RS-485 or RS-422 ports, 4 CAN V2.0B ports, digital and analog I/O, UPS, and LTE to provide a flexible, scalable and future-proof solution.

Strato Pi Max is designed to adapt to unique requirements, offering the flexibility to create hardware tailored to specific needs. Its modular design supports both standard expansion boards and custom-built boards, enabling the integration of specialised sensors or the development of application-specific interfaces. This ensures full control over automation projects.

Additionally, Sfera Labs provides custom provisioning services, including preloaded OS images, firmware, and branding, delivering ready-to-deploy devices to customers.

https://sferalabs.cc/strato-pi-max/

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Advantech launches MIC-732 series to Accelerate AI autonomous mobile robots market

Thu, Dec 12, 2024

Advantech, has announced the release of the MIC-732-AO and MIC-732D-AO, which together form an all-in-one autonomous mobile robot (AMR) AI system and developer kit embedded with NVIDIA Nova Orin.
The MIC-732-AO is a fanless system embedded with NVIDIA Nova Orin delivering up to 275 TOPs of AI performance and exceptional processing power. Equipped with eight GMSL FAKRA connectors for cameras, the system enables robots to achieve 360-degree vision, crucial for real-time situational awareness and decision-making. Additionally, the MIC-732-AO integrates a 3D LiDAR driver for precise depth perception, facilitating navigation in complex environments. Complemented by 2D LiDAR, it captures fine surface details to enhance sensing capabilities. With a modular design and various I/O options—including 10G LAN, CANBus, IMU, and wireless connectivity such as Wi-Fi, 4G/LTE, and 5G—the MIC-732-AO offers enhanced scalability and flexibility. Advantech’s MIC-732-AO also comes pre-installed with NVIDIA Isaac Perceptor, enabling developers to efficiently build AMRs.

NVIDIA Nova Orin integrates all AMR-oriented components into a single system, including the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin, 2x 2D LiDARs, 1x 3D LiDAR, 4x fisheye cameras, 4x stereo cameras, controllers, and communication. Beyond hardware integration, it also supports the NVIDIA Isaac robotics platform. With NVIDIA Nova Orin, developers only need to use one platform to build AMR solutions.

The MIC-732-AO is a fanless system embedded with NVIDIA Nova Orin, supporting AI performance of up to 275 TOPs and unprecedented processing power. Equipped with 8 GMSL cameras, the system enables robots to achieve 360-degree vision, crucial for real-time situational awareness and decision-making. Additionally, the MIC-731-AO integrates with 3D LiDAR for precise depth perception, facilitating navigation in complex environments. Complemented by 2D LiDAR, it captures fine details on surfaces to enhance sensing capabilities. With a modular design and various I/O options, including 10G LAN, CANBus, IMU, and wireless connectivity such as Wi-Fi, 4G/LTE, and 5G, the MIC-732-AO offers enhanced scalability and flexibility.
The MIC-732D-AO serves as the developer kit that is compatible with NVIDIA Nova Orin. An open-frame, fan-based system, it shares the same I/O design as the MIC-732-AO. This similarity allows developers to enjoy greater flexibility in crafting their thermal solutions and applications.
The Advantech MIC-732 series is designed for AMR applications, targeting routine, human-power-intensive tasks in fields such as smart warehousing, precision agriculture, retail maintenance, high-efficiency manufacturing, and logistics.

https://www.advantech.com

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