Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Raspberry Pi Ltd launch new AI camera

Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Raspberry Pi Ltd Launch New AI Camera

In a significant development for artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiasts, Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) and Raspberry Pi Ltd have unveiled a new product—the Raspberry Pi AI Camera. Available from today, the AI Camera is priced at $70 and is designed to simplify the creation of AI solutions by enabling the processing of visual data directly at the edge.

The AI Camera is compatible with the entire range of Raspberry Pi single-board computers, including the recently released Raspberry Pi 5. This product aims to enhance the development experience by allowing AI processing to be handled on the chip itself, thanks to the innovative IMX500 intelligent vision sensor from SSS. The IMX500 sensor eliminates the need for additional hardware, such as graphics processing units (GPUs) or accelerators, which are typically necessary for large-scale visual data management.

This release is the first major product to emerge from the strategic collaboration between Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Raspberry Pi Ltd, following SSS’s minority investment in Raspberry Pi Ltd in April 2023. The duo has been working together to develop an edge AI platform specifically targeted at the Raspberry Pi developer community.

One of the standout features of the Raspberry Pi AI Camera is its integration with familiar tools like the libcamera and Picamera2 libraries. This compatibility is designed to make the setup and development process smoother and more intuitive for users who are already acquainted with the Raspberry Pi ecosystem.

Eita Yanagisawa, General Manager of the System Solutions Division at SSS, expressed his enthusiasm for this collaboration. “I’m very excited to share SSS edge AI sensing technology with the world’s largest development community as the first fruits of our strategic partnership,” Yanagisawa stated.

Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Ltd, echoed this sentiment. “Together with our longstanding image sensor partner Sony Semiconductor Solutions, we have developed the Raspberry Pi AI Camera, incorporating Sony’s image sensor expertise. We look forward to seeing what our community members are able to achieve using the power of the Raspberry Pi AI Camera,” Upton said.

The Raspberry Pi AI Camera is equipped with a 12.3-megapixel IMX500 sensor, which is capable of capturing high-resolution images at 10 frames per second (fps) and 40 fps, depending on the mode. Additionally, it includes an RP2040 microcontroller that manages the neural network firmware. The camera comes pre-loaded with the MobileNetSSD model, making it ready for immediate use.

With this new product, both companies hope to foster innovative developments within the AI and Raspberry Pi communities, enabling users to leverage advanced AI capabilities in their projects.

Source: Noah Wire Services