Raspberry Pi Launches an AI Camera for Vision-Based Applications

Raspberry Pi, the UK-based single-board computer (SBC) company, launched an AI Camera on Monday. The device, focused on artificial intelligence (AI) projects and workflows, is aimed to let users make full use of external AI accelerators, such as the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, which was launched in June. The AI Camera features a 12-megapixel Sony IMX500 Intelligent Vision Sensor which can capture visual data up to a resolution of 4056 x 3040 at 10fps. It is compatible with all Raspberry Pi models.

Raspberry Pi AI Camera: Price and Availability

The Raspberry Pi AI Camera is priced at $70 in the US. The visual data sensor is available to order globally. In India, users can order it online from Robu.in, the company’s only approved reseller in the country, where it is priced at Rs. 7,899. Notably, it is only available via backorder (it is currently out of stock, but will be shipped when the next batch arrives). The Raspberry Pi AI Camera is expected to start shipping from October 20.

Raspberry Pi AI Camera: Specifications and Applications

Equipped with a 12-megapixel Sony IMX500 Intelligent Vision Sensor, the Raspberry Pi AI Camera can capture visual data in 4056 x 3040 resolution at 10fps or 2028 x 1520 resolution at 30fps. The sensor has a 78-degree field of view and comes with manually adjustable focus. The cell size in the chip is 1.55 x 1.55 micrometres. It is compatible with all Raspberry Pi models and can be connected to the RP2040 microcontroller with a regular cable ribbon link.

Since it is an AI-focused device, it utilises Sony’s suite of AI tools to program frameworks for neural network models such as TensorFlow or PyTorch. The company highlights that new models can be designed to take advantage of the AI accelerator’s capabilities as well.

Further, the device can be connected to the Raspberry Pi camera software stack and the libcamera enhancement can process the Bayer frame using the company-specific ISP, a similar workflow for all Raspberry sensors.

The Raspberry Pi AI Camera is suitable for AI projects that require visual data collection. These can be robots with vision, car systems for driving automation or road mapping, or something as simple as an on-device AI model that can process real-world images. Further, these can also be used for augmented reality use cases.