Arducam Partners with OStream to Launch an Object-Detecting Edge AI Camera, OCam

Computer vision specialist Arducam has announced a partnership with OStream to power its latest device, the OCam — "the first AI camera," it claims, "to discover and add context to video."

"OCam is the product of our partnership with OStream, Inc," Arducam explains of its newest product launch. "OCam is the first camera to automatically add context to video and audio streams using edge AI. It identifies real world objects and adds that metadata into the Object MP4 format. This means the resulting data can directly trigger actions on the device as well as make video and audio searchable — just like Google Images."

The OCam is based around an unspecified imaging sensor offering still and video capture from QVGA up to 2k resolution at up to 60 frames per second and offering an 80° field of view. Dual beam-forming microphones are included, with 5V power or Power over Ethernet (PoE) choices and a claimed peak 5W power consumption — which includes the camera's on-board machine learning hardware.

According to Arducam, the accelerator on the OCam — designed for on-device computer vision workloads — offers an overall performance of three tera-operations per second (3 TOPS) at INT8 precision, with INT16 and FP16 precision options. The hardware, the company claims, "supports all the leading AI tech" including TensorFlow, PyToch, OpenCV, and Edge Impulse, and comes complete with "hundreds of pre-configured AI models."

Its key feature: object detection, from which it gets its name. When the on-board system detects an object, the data is automatically encoded into Object MP4 format — providing contextual data for video and audio, both for later analysis and for in-the-moment event triggering. Example use-cases suggested by the company include automatic parcel notifications, driveway monitoring for unknown vehicles, stranger alerts in gardens, pet-discriminating automatic feeders, and workplace monitoring for safety or noise levels.

The smarts come courtesy of OStream's Physico platform — which will, the companies pledge, be made available free of charge in a "Maker version" for OCam users. "This means everything," Arducam pledges, "including the camera, all the software, the search engine, user interface, base AI models and data tools are all free for those that buy OCam. Physico does have enterprise features and multi-cam capabilities that is a chargeable license but that would only apply to integrators that really want to sink their teeth into selling and deploying OCam at scale."

Arducam has opened pre-orders for the OCam at $125, which will go up at the end of the month to the final retail price of $160. More information is available on the company website.