The VIA AI Transforma Model 1 Is a Compact MediaTek-Powered SBC for Edge AI Projects
MediaTek's Genio 700 sits at the heart of this development board, which takes aim at AI-backed industrial automation and multimedia.
Electronics giant VIA Technologies has unveiled a single-board computer targeting low-power embedded artificial intelligence (AI) workloads for industrial automation and more: the VIA AI Transforma Model 1, designed around a MediaTek Genio 700 system-on-chip (SoC).
"The VIA AI Transforma is a versatile edge AI platform, offering strong AI processing performance and extensive I/O [Input/Output] for developers seeking a flexible and efficient solution for fast prototyping," the company says of its creation. "With a broad range of onboard connectivity options and support for widely available accessories, it provides an ideal balance of AI performance and low power consumption for IoT [Internet of Things], automation, and multimedia projects. Designed for seamless integration with familiar development workflows, the VIA AI Transforma gives you the tools to easily deploy AI-powered systems in industrial automation, smart cities, and beyond."
The compact board, brought to our attention by CNX Software, features a passive heatsink under which you'll find a MediaTek Genio 700 system-on-chip — part of the company's artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) chip line-up, delivering two Arm Cortex-A78 cores running at up to 2.2GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 2GHz, an Arm Mali-G57 MC3 graphics processor, MediaTek's in-house Deep Learning Accelerator (MDLA) 3.0 and a Cadence Tensilica Vision P6 coprocessor delivering a claimed four tera-operations per second (TOPS) of minimum-precision compute for machine learning and artificial intelligence, a Tensilica HiFi 5 digital signal processor, and hardware video encoding at up to 4kp30 and decoding at up to 4kp75.
Elsewhere on the board is 8GB of LPDDR4X memory, 16GB of eMMC flash storage with microSD card expansion, HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4, and four-lane MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI) connectors, analog audio in and out, gigabit Ethernet plus an M.2 E-key slot for an optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, M.2 B-key slot with nano-SIM support for optional cellular connectivity, two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, a single USB 3.1 Gen. 1 Type-C port, and two USB 2.0 ports, and a familiar-looking 40-pin general-purpose input/output (GPIO) header following the Raspberry Pi pinout.
On the software side, the AI Transformer runs a customized version of Debian 12 "Bookworm" with support for MediaTek's NeuroPilot Pipeline — an edge-AI software toolchain the company launched back in 2018 as a means to speed software development and model deployment. A micro-USB connector is also included, to provide a debug interface during development, and while measured power statistics have not been disclosed the device is supplied with a 5V 8A power supply — suggesting an absolute maximum power draw of 40W under full load.
More information is available on the VIA website; the company has listed the device at resellers for $299, with an eight-week lead time.