Raspberry Pi, a company that offers low-cost, single-board computers, has introduced the Raspberry Pi AI camera, which uses Sony’s IMX500 Intelligent Vision sensor. The device costs $70 and will be helpful to experimental photography engineers.

“Compatible with all Raspberry Pi computers, the Raspberry Pi AI Camera takes advantage of Sony’s IMX500 Intelligent Vision Sensor to help you create impressive vision AI applications and neural network models using the on-module AI processor,” according to the company’s website.

The camera has 12.3 megapixels and can take video at ten frames per second in 4056 x 3040 or 40 frames per second in 2028 x 1520. It has a 76-degree field of vision and a manually adjustable focus. The complete item is 25 x 24 x 11.9 mm.

The Raspberry Pi AI camera combines the company’s RP2040 microcontroller chip with a Sony IMX500 image sensor. Because the AI camera module has internal processing, visual data processing will not influence the host Raspberry Pi computer, eliminating the requirement for a separate accelerator or graphics processing unit (GPU), which is generally required for camera modules to handle massive amounts of visual data. The module includes MobileNet-SSD, a real-time object detection model.

“AI-based image processing is becoming an attractive tool for developers around the world,” Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton says in a press statement. “We look forward to seeing what our community members can achieve using the power of the Raspberry Pi AI Camera.”

“Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Raspberry Pi Ltd aim to provide Raspberry Pi users and the development community with a unique development experience,” states Eita Yanagisawa, General Manager, System Solutions Division, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation.

“I’m thrilled to share SSS edge AI sensing technology with the world’s greatest development community as the first result of our strategic cooperation. We are excited to continue collaborating with Raspberry Pi through our AITRIOS™ edge AI solution development and operations platform. In our collaboration with Raspberry Pi, we hope to make the best use of AI cameras coupled with our image sensors.”