Raspberry Pi, the company dealing in tiny, cheap, single-board computers, is releasing an add-on that is set to open up several use cases, at a rate of $70.
Known as the Raspberry Pi AI Camera, this module that integrates the Sony IMX500 Intelligent Vision Sensor was unveiled at Embedded world.
When Raspberry Pi became a public company, it reported that the industrial and embedded segment represented 72% of its sales. That ratio is likely going to be even higher for the AI Camera.
While the Raspberry Pi Ai Camera didn't make it to the list of high-end tech of 2024, it remains a game-changer for developers who need an affordable way of performing tasks like object detection, facial recognition, and pose estimation.
Here's everything you should know.
Features and Capabilities
The Raspberry Pi AI Camera comes with a 12.3-megapixel Sony IMX500 sensor, which not only captures high-resolution images but also supports real-time AI processing.
With an integrated RP2040 for neural network and firmware management, the camera itself can handle neural network models hence offloading the processing from the main Raspberry Pi unit.
The AI Camera is the same size as the Camera Module 3 (25mm x 24mm) but slightly thicker due to the structure of the optical sensor. It comes pre-loaded with the MobileNet-SSD model, an object detection model that can run in realtime.
At this point, you might be wondering who is going to use the Raspberry Pi AI Camera. While the tiny computers were originally designed for tech hobbyists and homelab projects, Raspberry Pi now sells most of its devices to companies that use Raspberry Pi devices in their own products or as part of their assembly lines for internal industrial use cases.
That is, the onboard AI abilities make it perfect for AI applications in robotics, security systems, and industrial automation. Additionally, it supports PyTorch and TensorFlow environments, giving users flexibility in model training and deployment.
Software Integration
The camera is designed to work with the Raspberry Pi ecosystem, especially with the libcamera and Picamera2 libraries, which simplify AI integration. For beginners, pre-installed demos like MobileNet SSD for object detection and PoseNet for pose estimation provide a soft landing. More advanced developers can train custom AI models and integrate them into the system with ease.
Use Cases in AI Applications
The Raspberry Pi AI Camera’s ability to perform real-time inferencing makes it perfect for a wide range of vision-based AI applications. Robotics, smart home systems, and retail analytics are just a few areas that can benefit from this technology.
For instance, in a retail environment, the camera could be used for customer traffic analysis, while in a security setting, it could enhance real-time object recognition or facial identification systems.
In the real world, where the 78-degree field of view with manually adjustable focus comes in handy, the AI Camera module can be used in smart cities to detect empty parking spots or track traffic flows. In an industrial environment, the hardware could also be used for basic, automated quality assurance with objects passing under the camera module.
Key Takeaway
The Raspberry Pi company has taken a huge and monumental leap in making vision-based AI applications more accessible and integrated into daily lives.
With its software integration, high-quality image sensor, and onboard AI processing, it's a tool designed to make life easier.