AI chip for humanoid robotics
|
February 29, 2024
Nick Flaherty
Renesas Electronics has developed a high performance AI chip for humanoid robots.
The Renesas RZ/V2H enables both vision AI and real-time motor control capabilities without the need for heatsinks which is key for AI in humanoid robots.
The V2H uses the latest proprietary AI accelerator, DRP (Dynamically Reconfigurable Processor)-AI3, delivering 10 TOPS/W power efficiency. Pruning technology employed in the DRP-AI3 accelerator significantly improves AI computing efficiency, boosting AI inference performance up to 80 TOPS. This allows engineers to process vision AI applications directly at edge AI devices without relying on cloud computing platforms.
Low power edge AI core for robotics kills the heatsink .
“In this new chip we can reach 80TOPS is sparse mode with 8W. In dense mode it is 8-10TOPS,” said Stefano Tansini, MCU and MPU business development manager for Europe. “The humanoid robot is a key application and with these elements we have a complete system in one chip with multiple cameras, motor control, sensors, speakers, WiFi and CAN-FD.”
As well as the DRP-AI3, the RZ/V2H incorporates four ARM Cortex-A55 CPU cores with a maximum operating frequency of 1.8 GHz for Linux application processing, two Cortex-R8 cores running at 800 MHz for high-performance real-time processing, and one Cortex-M33 as a sub core as well as a previous generation DRP core for the motor control algorithms.
By integrating these cores into a single chip, the device can effectively manage both vision AI and real-time control tasks without needing a heatsink.
Renesas has used its DRP technology to develop the OpenCV Accelerator that speeds up the processing of OpenCV, an open-source industry standard library for computer vision processing. The resulting speed improvement is up to 16 times faster compared to CPU processing. The combination of the DRP-AI3 and the OpenCV Accelerator enhances both AI computing and image processing algorithms, enabling the power-efficient, real-time execution of Visual SLAM used in applications such as robot vacuum cleaners.
“The target for us is to develop the AI for the masses so what we are focussing on is to create an environment that is easy to use and develop for beginners. We created several pretrained libraries in smart city, surveillance, agriculture, districted driving that are available free of charge to download and deploy to the V2H. The aim is to achieve 100 applications and we are 70 or 80,” he said.
To accelerate development, Renesas also released AI Applications, a library of pre-trained models for various use cases, and the AI SDK (Software Development Kit) for rapid development of AI applications. By running these software on the RZ/V2H’s evaluation board, engineers can evaluate AI applications easily and earlier in the design process, even if they do not have extensive knowledge of AI.
“We are thrilled to be part of the launch of the RZ/V2H, which combines AI technology with real-time control,” says Rolf Segger, founder of development tool maker Segger. “Our J-Link debug probe, widely adopted by numerous embedded development projects globally, will provide the support needed for the RZ/V2H, helping accelerate the development of next-generation robotic innovations. We look forward to this next phase in our multi-decade long partnership with Renesas.”
Renesas has developed the “Visual Detection Single Board Computer” that uses camera images to identify its surroundings, and to determine and control its movements in real-time. This solution combines the RZ/V2H with power management ICs and VersaClock programmable clock generators to support power-efficient industrial robots and machinery.
The RZ/V2H is available today, along with the evaluation board and the AI SDK.
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don’t miss them by subscribing to :
eeNews on Google News
Share:
Post Disclaimer
The information provided in our posts or blogs are for educational and informative purposes only. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information. We do not provide financial or investment advice. Readers should always seek professional advice before making any financial or investment decisions based on the information provided in our content. We will not be held responsible for any losses, damages or consequences that may arise from relying on the information provided in our content.
