I am loving all the artificial intelligence news of late. Self-driving cars, A.I. beating humans at games, and now this…
Forget embedding deep learning Artificial Intelligence in your hardware. The Movidius Fathom Neural Compute Stick is an external USB unit that allows even the simplest of devices to utilize high-end visual processing as needed.
Movidius is the powerhouse behind the Myriad 2 – a complex visual processing technology that enables deep learning features like facial recognition, advanced video analytics, and pixel-by-pixel image labeling. The Fathom Neural Compute Stick essentially functions as a portable Myriad 2 stick, which will allow all kinds of devices to use the technology.
The Stick is the first discrete accelerator of its kind in the world. The technology can run neural networks in real-time in just about any device with an ARM host and a USB port, and allows users to choose between prototyping or validation functionality. The device also runs on a single Watt of power and does not require an external power supply.
The Fathom Neural Compute Stick would be ideal for any device that requires advanced visual processing functionality, including robots, drones, security devices, and virtual and augmented reality headsets. In future, it could be the link that gives lightweight devices the visual processing power needed to run complex algorithms, such as allowing small drones to execute scene intelligence and object identification for infrastructure monitoring at local businesses and facilities.
The Myriad 2 technology already supports a few commercial drones, including the DJI Phantom 4. The technology will also be included in the next rollout of Google Android headsets to allow for facial recognition and other visual processing tasks. Movidius also offers its own framework and applications for the Fathom innovation.
Movidius is currently developing 1,000 prototypes for user Beta testing. If you’re interested in getting one, reach out to the company directly. Official pricing has not yet been released, but it is rumored to retail for less than $100. What's wrong with thousands of A.I.s out, uncontrolled, in the world?
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