Seeed's New Wio Lite AI Packs Computer Vision Into a Feather-Sized Board

Seeed Studio has introduced a powerful new board called the Wio Lite AI to their existing AI and machine learning lineup. Combining am STM32 with Arm Cortex-M7, dual-band Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, and digital camera interface means the Wio Lite AI is a powerhouse edge computing device while still being as light (and small) as a feather.

The 70.3 x 26 millimeter board contains an STM32H725AE, 8 MB PSRAM, 16 MB SPI NOR Flash, and a Realtek RTL8720DN module for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. External connections include USB Type-C for data and power, GPIO pins, and three flat ribbon cable (FPC) connectors.

One FPC supports 40-pin RGB565 or RGB888 LCDs. Another FPC interfaces to a 24-pin digital camera interface (DCMI) module such as the OV2640. (The OV2640 is the same 2MB camera used in the Arducam Mini.) The third FPC provides a 12-pin port for audio.

General-purpose IO pin functions include 14 digital, six analog, and support for standard protocols like UART, SPI, I2C, and CAN. In addition, if the onboard 16 MB Flash chip does not provide you enough storage space, a Micro SD card slot is also available on the backside of the Wio Lite AI.

The board's form factor and pinout seem compatible with Adafruit's Feather form factor. However, the Wio Lite AI is slightly longer than other feather boards to accommodate three extra pins. Those pins are for the STM32's serial programming and debug interface.

Both the Arduino IDE and ST's STM32Cube.AI are options to program the Wio Lite AI. Seeed Studio libraries support the hardware with the Arduino IDE. On the other hand, the ST toolkit comes with deep learning libraries, which you can use for inferences running directly on the microcontroller board.

Wio Lite AI is available from Seeed Studio's online store for 29 USD as a pre-order. Seeed expects to ship the board in late September 2021.