MAIX Development Boards with Sipeed M1 RISC-V AI Module Launched for $5 and Up (Crowdfunding)

Sipeed M1 (aka MAIX-I)is a compact module based on Kendryte K210 dual core RISC-V processor designed for low power artificial intelligence workloads at the edge, such as face detection, object recognition, or audio processing.

The module and some development boards are available on Taobao for the Chinese market, as well as YOYCart for the rest of the world, but the company has now launched several MAIX boards based on M1 module through an Indiegogo campaign with price starting at just $5 a piece.

Sipeed MAIX BitSipeed MAIX Bit (aka MAIX Micro) is the cheapest one at $5 (early bird) / $6 with the following specifications:

  • SoC – Kendryte K210 dual core 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 400 MHz (overclockable up to 800 MHz) with
    • KPU CNN hardware accelerator
    • APU audio hardware accelerator with support for up to 8 mics, up to 192 KHz sample rate
    • FPIOA (Field Programmable IO Array) mapping 255 functions to all 48 GPIOs on the chip.
    • 8 MB general purpose SRAM including 5.9MB usable as AI SRAM memory
    • AXI ROM to load user program from SPI flash
  • Storage – micro SD card slot, 8MB SPI flash
  • Display I/F – MCU LCD FPC connector for optional 2.4″ display
  • Camera I/F – DVP camera FPC connector
  • USB – 1x USB type-C port for power and programming
  • Expansion – Breadboard friendly headers with UART, IIC, SPI, I2S, PWM, etc…
  • Misc – 2x buttons, RGB LED
  • Power Supply – Via USB type-C port
  • Performance + Power Consumption – 0.25TOPS @ 0.3W ,400MHz. 0.5 TOPS @ 800 MHz
  • Dimensions – 5.08 x 2.54 mm

They also provide the M1 “Dan” Dock which I covered previously, so I’ll skip it in this post, as well as the full-featured MAIX GO board.

MAIX GO BoardSpecifications:

  • SoC – Kendryte K210 dual core 64-bit RISC-V processor
  • Storage – micro SD card slot
  • Display – Optional 2.8″ LCD display
  • Camera – Standard M12 lens DVP camera fitted to bottom or top of the board
  • Audio – I2S microphone, speaker, Mic array connector
  • USB – 1x USB type-C port for programming and power
  • Expansion – All pins out via through holes
  • Debugging – On-board JTAG & UART based on STM32F103C8 MCU
  • Misc – RGB LED
  • Power Supply – Via USB type-C port; Lithium battery management chip
  • Dimensions – 88x60mm

The company also provide accessories for their boards include 2.4″ and 2.8″ displays, camera module, microphone and microphone array modules,

The MAIX boards and module support the original standalone SDK, FreeRTOS SDK base on C/C++, as well as a Micropython port called MaixPy with source code available on Github. You’ll find an overview of the board, and various vision and audio demo in the video below.
If you are interested, you can pledge $5 for MAIX Bit board, $16 for M1w Dan Dock suit with the dock, module, OV2640 camera, and 2.4″ QVGA LCD, as well as $22 for MAIX GO suit including the MAIX GO board, an M12 OV2640 camera, a 2.8″ QVGA LCD display, and a simple case. If instead you’d like Sipeed M1 module, they are offered in packs of 10 units for $55, unless you want the WiFi version for a total of $65. Various other rewards are provided check out the Indiegogo page for details. Shipping adds $5 worldwide, unless you select the $20 DHL option, and delivery is planned for November or December 2018 depending on the rewards.

Thanks to Gaiar for the tip.

Share this:

Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress

ROCK Pi 4C Plus
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
The comment form collects your name, email and content to allow us keep track of the comments placed on the website. Please read and accept our website Terms and Privacy Policy to post a comment.
23 Comments
oldest
newest
Orgmar
5 years ago

Hi, I’m Orgmar, the founder of Sipeed. There is a description in the article, “6 MB general purpose SRAM, 2MB AI SRAM memory” is not correct,need change to : 8 MB general purpose SRAM, and 5.9MB of them can be used as AI SRAM memory.

blu
blu
5 years ago

Do you plan updating the laser-etched ISA on the lid to the correct one (RV64IMADFC, or RV64GC) ? : )

js0x0
js0x0
5 years ago

They changed it to RV64GC, in case you’re wondering.

blu
blu
5 years ago

Thanks for the heads-up! It’s good Sipeed care to keep their nomenclature consistent.

GungSukma
GungSukma
5 years ago

Why do you use crowdfunding, isn’t it expensive?
There are many sellers selling AI Thinker products, why not ask them help to sell it?

Sekar
Sekar
5 years ago

MAIX-BIT with WiFi might be great add on.

柯钿选
5 years ago

So Cool!

David Willmore
David Willmore
5 years ago

This makes more sense if you think of it more like a bigger ESP32 than a small ARM SoC. Or at least it does to me.

Lloyd Seaton
Lloyd Seaton
5 years ago

But an ESP32 without WiFi/BLE is unthinkable. Here, there are vague references to a WiFi option but it seems not to be a fundamental capability.

John S.
John S.
5 years ago

I think he just means the K210 is an MCU, not a SoC, and ESP32 was the first MCU to come to mind.

Regarding the WiFi, I believe it’s only on the modules (e.g. not available on the bit/micro), and M1 means no wifi and M1w means it has wifi. Buried in the indiegogo page it says “M1w module add wifi chip esp8285 on it”.

David Willmore
David Willmore
5 years ago

You’d be surprised the number of projects for the ESP8266 and ESP32 where the wifi and the BT aren’t used.

They’re just really nice SoCs that happen to have Wifi/BT on it (if you need it).

Coldfish
Coldfish
5 years ago

Orgmar is the Sipeed founder and also AI Thinker CEO 🙂

John S.
John S.
5 years ago

I’ve been playing around with the official KD233 dev board for the chip and it’s fun. I wish I’d waited for this and gotten all the toys in the MAIX Go bundle for $5 less, that binocular camera looks especially good to play with (and the maix boards probably even have functioning reset/auto programming circuits, unlike the official development board!). If you’re backing this project I recommend you go with an option with a camera and a display included, because when you start playing with AI doing face recognition onto a screen is a lot more fun feedback than just… Read more »

Nobody Of Import
Nobody Of Import
5 years ago

One would think that the bulk of the toolchains are usable from off of the RISC-V GitHub repo for the same…and if you’ve got the tools to build, including CMake, it should be a walk in the park to fix the oversight.

All in all, I’m looking forward to seeing how well Kendryte’s stuff compares to some of the other RISC-V stuff I’ve got at my disposal.

Gokhan
Gokhan
5 years ago

This board reminds me lichee pi zero. How can we program it?

sgDANIEL
sgDANIEL
5 years ago

allo orgmar
can the all-in-1 pack in indiegogo able to toggle a relay ?

Sérgio lenzi
Sérgio lenzi
2 years ago

Hello I am interested in building a riscV small computer, with cpu, 4 cores smp, mmu, gpu, vpu, pci, USB, 4gb of memory, some pio, sio, dma.. just like an raspberry pi. Must be a single board computer with power supply on board too.The system must run NetBSD.. market size: about 1,000,000 units.. how much money is needed to build this project??? Thanks for any help.

sergio lenzi
sergio lenzi
2 years ago

Sorry for the delay… I like challenge things… by the way…the idea is to produce a small computer able to run some sort of graphics on small GPU capable of running opengl. It must NOT be based on ARM because of the copyright, so my choices are RISCV and MIPS compatible cpu….. the idea is to offer those small computers to secod grade students in Brazil… about 25 millions… the small computers must have a gpu able to produce up to 1920×1080 utput via HDMI, 4 cores, 4 usb, about 4gb of memory, 64gb internal storage, a rapsberry pi interface… Read more »

Khadas VIM4 SBC