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July 30, 2021July 30, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

XGO Mini Pro robot dog features Kendryte K510 AI processor (Crowdfunding)

Kendryte K510 RISC-V AI processor is the successor of Kendryte K210 with much more AI processing power (2.5/3 TOPS) that makes it suitable for robotics projects demanding much lower latency and quasi-real-time inference. One of the first products to make use of Kendryte K510 capabilities is Luwu Intelligence Technology’s XGO Mini Pro, a four-legged robot that looks like a dog with a tiny head providing the “smarts” for the system including face detection, image recognition, object tracking, voice recognition, and so on. The description of the robot on Canaan’s website is rather short with an explanation that when equipped with is equipped with a 9-axis IMU and joint positioning sensors, providing behavioral and joint feedback. The head is exchangeable and when using the earlier Kendryte K210, the robot is capable of omnidirectional movements, six-dimensional navigation control, and stabilization support, as well as multiple movement modes. Kendryte K510 enables more features […]

July 26, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Pico 2G Expansion adds GSM/GPRS & GNSS to Raspberry Pi Pico (Crowdfunding)

You may have heard about the 2G/3G sunset with the older cellular networks being phased out in many countries. But it’s not always straightforward, as telecom operators may have to obtain regulators’ permission for the shutdown notably because of the eCall emergency services integrated into cars in Europe. Eventually, eCall will be migrated toward IMS Voice and 2G M2M services to 4G LTE IoT and 5G LPWA, but in the meantime, 2G networks are still operating in parts of the world, and UK-based SB Components has just introduced the Pico 2G Expansion board for Raspberry Pi Pico based on the SIM868 module. Raspberry Pi Pico 2G Expansion specifications: Compatible with Raspberry Pi Pico board Display – 1.14-inch LCD Cellular & GNSS Connectivity SIM868 module with GPRS multi-slot class 12/10, mobile station class B GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GNSS – GPS/GLONASS/BDS Bluetooth 3.0 with audio support SIM card holder 2x SMA antenna […]

July 4, 2021July 4, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Relay expansion board for Raspberry Pi includes 4.3-inch touchscreen display (Crowdfunding)

PiRelay 8-Channel Raspberry Pi touchscreen display

There are plenty of multi-relay boards for Raspberry Pi, but since those are often combined with an HMI for control, SB Components decided to offer an all-in-one solution with an expansion board equipped with eight relays and a 4.3-inch touchscreen display connected to a Raspberry Pi via HDMI and USB. PiRelay 8 specifications: Relays 8x relays with 3.3V/5V trigger signal Input – 250V AC/7A, 30V DC/10A Screw terminal blocks NO (Normally Open) and NC (Normally Closed) modes available Isolation – EL357NC optocouplers with current transfer ratio (CTR) of 50-600% at IF=5mA, VCE=5V Display support – Optional 4.3-inch touchscreen display with 800 x 480 pixels resolution, HDMI input for video, USB for touchscreen support. It also comes with a 3.5mm audio jack, an HDMI audio output, a speaker connector, and mounting holes for the Raspberry Pi. 40-pin GPIO header to connect a Raspberry Pi SBC (Pi 4, Pi 3B+, Pi 3, […]

July 2, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

FICIHIP multifunctional keyboard includes 12.6-inch touchscreen display (Crowdfunding)

Multifunction-keyboard touchscreen display

Keyboards have made the news in recent months with stories ranging from a customizable programmable keyboard, to a keyboard part of a USB-C dock, and a 2-key open-source keypad. FICIHIP multifunctional keyboard is special in its own way as besides a traditional QWERTY keyboard is also includes a 12.6-inch touchscreen display which makes it looks like a computer, but no, it’s really just a USB keyboard that happens to come with a display design for computers and smartphones. FICIHIP multifunctional keyboard key features and specifications: QWERTY keyboard with RGB backlight and hot-swappable mechanical keycaps for DIY layout on K2 model only Display – 12.6-inch screen with 1920×515 resolution @ 60 Hz, 10-point multitouch panel HDMI input – HDMI 1.4 port USB – USB 3.1 Type-C port, 2x USB 2.0 ports Aluminum body That means the keyboard acts as a second display either through the USB-C port when connected to a […]

July 1, 2021July 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Jevois Pro small AI camera with Amlogic A311D SoC offers up to 13 TOPS (Crowdfunding)

Jevois-A33 smart camera was a tiny Linux camera with Allwinner A33 processor designed for computer vision applications and announced in 2016. I had the opportunity to review the computer vision camera the following year, and it was fun to use to learn about computer vision with many examples, but since it relied on the CPU for processing, it would not have been suitable for all projects due to the lag, as for example, object detection took 500ms and Yolo V3 around 3 seconds per inference. But time has passed, and great progress has been made in the computer vision and AI fields with the tasks now usually handled by a built-in NPU, or an AI accelerator card. So JeVois Pro deep learning camera has just been launched with an Amlogic A311D processor featuring a 5 TOPS NPU, and support for up to 13 TOPS via a Myriad X or Google […]

April 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

The Axon platform offers WiFi & LoRa IoT messaging in a compact form factor (Crowdfunding)

Qortex (Amine Mehdi Mansouri) has developed the WiFi & LoRa IoT messaging platform to allow devices to communicate wirelessly via serial messages. The solution also includes a wireless serial port and 4 digital outputs. The tiny Axon board is based on ESP8266 WiFi SoC and can be augmented with a LoRa module for a longer range, and the solution integrates with the Axon cloud for data visualization in the cloud. There’s also a HAT expansion board for Raspberry Pi compatibility. Axon board specifications: Wireless module – ESP12-S ESP8266 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 module USB – USB Type-C port for power and programming via CP2102 Expansion – 2x 6-pin header with GPIOs, UART, 5V, 3.3V, and GND Misc – Status LED, Reset button, USB/MCU (UART) selection switch Power Supply 5V input via USB-C port 3.3V/600mA LDO PTC fuse, reverse polarity protection, ESD protection Dimensions – 30 x 25 mm The board […]

April 11, 2021April 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Crowbits Master Kit Tutorial – Part 2: ESP32 intrusion scanner and visual programming

I started Crowbits Master Kit review last month by checking out the content, user manual, and some of the possible projects for the ESP32 educational kit including a 2G phone and a portable game console. For the second part of the review, I’ll go through one of the lessons in detail, namely the intrusion scanner to show the whole process and how well (or not) it works. Let’s go to Lesson 5 directly, although I’d recommend going through the first lessons that provide details about the hardware and visual programming basics using Letscode program, which is basically a custom version of Scratch for Crowbits The user manual introduces the project, explains it is to detect intruders, and lists the learning goals as we’ll learn how to control the servo and play music on the Crowbits kit. Kit Assembly But first, we’ll have some assembly to do, in a similar way […]

April 5, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Minima is a tiny Arduino Zero compatible module with SAMD21 MCU (Crowdfunding)

We’ve covered a fair amount of compact Arduino Zero compatible boards based on SAMD21 Cortex-M0+ microcontroller over the years including Exen Proto, Wemos D1 SAMD21, or Seeeduino XIAO with the latter being the smallest of them all at just 23.5 x 17.5 mm. All those boards come with a USB port (Micro USB or USB-C) by default that makes it easy to work with, but may not be ideal to integrate into projects or final products. That may be why Hamish Morley designed the Minima Arduino Zero compatible module with a size even smaller than the XIAO board at 19.8 x 16.6 mm, and the USB interface exposed through 4 pads instead of a connector. Minima specifications: Microchip SAMD21G18A 32-bit Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 48 MHz with 256KB of flash storage, and 32KB of SRAM Expansion – 24x castellated pads (2.54mm pitch) with 18 GPIO pins, including 5x analogue capable, […]