Arducam Unveils the PiNSIGHT, a Luxonis OAK-SoM Add-On for Raspberry Pi 5-Hosted Edge AI Work
With hardware video encoding and access to the OpenVINO model zoo, this Luxonis OAK-SoM-powered board targets computer vision at the edge.
Computer vision specialist Arducam has announced an add-on that turns the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer (SBC) into a fully-functional "AI camera hub" for edge artificial intelligence work: the PiNSIGHT.
"PiNSIGHT is not just a camera; it’s your Vision AI Mate, meticulously designed for the Raspberry Pi 5," Arducam claims of its latest creation. "Unleash the power of intelligent vision with our seamlessly integrated camera modules and Luxonis OAK-SoM. Explore a world of possibilities as PiNSIGHT transforms your Raspberry Pi into a visionary powerhouse, seeing beyond the ordinary and redefining what’s possible."
Designed specifically for use with the Raspberry Pi 5 — though backwards-compatible with earlier models with Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and earlier likely to deliver a suboptimal experience, the company warns — the PiNSIGHT is an add-on module connecting to the underside of the Raspberry Pi, in contrast with the more usual Hardware Attached on Top (HAT) approach to accessories. On the board is an Intel Movidius Myriad X accelerator, offering 4 tera-operations per second (TOPS) of compute, in the form of a Luxonis OAK-SoM system-on-module board.
To this, Arducam has added a camera module built around a Sony IMX708 sensor with a 12.3 megapixel resolution, offering 4k30 and 1080p60 video capture modes and delivering focal range from 15cm (around 5.9") to infinity. All of this is sandwiched between the Raspberry Pi and an aluminum case which doubles as a heatsink to the keep the OAK-SoM cool.
"Encouraged by the vibrant Raspberry Pi community and the collective desire for enhanced AI functionality," Arducam says of its inspiration for the device, "PiNSIGHT emerges as our latest project, drawing inspiration from the shared hope to empower the Raspberry Pi 5. We aim to unlock untapped potential for AI applications, broadening its horizons beyond conventional educational purposes."
In addition to delivering hardware-accelerated video encoding in H.264, H.265, and MJPEG formats — a feature removed from the Raspberry Pi 5's system-on-chip in favor of having the work done by the new and considerably faster central processor cores — the PiNSIGHT offers OpenVINO integration for access to a model zoo of ready-to-run pre-trained computer vision models.
Models provided include face detection, age and gender recognition, emotion recognition, American Sign Language recognition, road segmentation, image super-resolution, text detection and recognition, and object classification, Arducam says.
The Arducam PiNSIGHT is now available to pre-order on the company store, priced at $69.99 — a $30 discount from the planned selling price — and with deliveries expected to take place at the end of March this year.