ST Launches "the World's First MCU Edge AI Developer Cloud," with Model Zoo, Benchmark Farm
A "board farm" of real hardware provides cross-device benchmarking, while in-browser tools spit out STM32-optimized code.
STMicroelectronics has announced what it claims is the "world's first MCU [microcontroller unit] edge AI developer cloud," launching as the STM32Cube.AI Developer Cloud with an online benchmark system for trying out machine learning models on STM32 platforms.
“Our goal is to deliver the best hardware, software, and services to meet the challenges faced by embedded developers and data scientists so that they can develop their edge AI application faster and with less hassle," claims STMicro's Ricardo De Sa Earp of the launch. "Today we are unveiling the world’s first MCU AI Developer Cloud, which works hand-in-glove with our STM32Cube.AI ecosystem. This new tool brings the possibility to remotely benchmark models on STM32 hardware through the cloud to save on workload and cost."
Focused exclusively, as the name implies, on STMicro's STM32 microcontroller range, the STM32Cube.AI Developer Cloud platform aims to break down the barrier to entry for tinyML development. Based on the existing offline STM32Cube.AI software, the cloud-based variant offers an in-browser interface for generating optimized machine learning model source code for deployment on STM32 devices without needing any software to be installed locally.
The platform also brings access to a model zoo of STM32-compatible deep-learning models and demos. Models available at launch include human motion sensing with activity recognition and tracking, computer vision with image classification or object detection, and audio event detection, with more expected to follow in the near future.
Perhaps the most interesting feature, though, is its benchmarking facility. STM32-compatible models, created on- or off-platform, can be tested on a range of STM32 development boards without needing to have hardware in-hand — with the code being executed on real hardware in what STMicro describes as a "board farm" which includes "a broad range of STM32 boards, refreshed regularly."
The STM32Cube.AI Developer Cloud is now available on the STMicroelectronics website, free of charge to registered MyST users.