Ezurio (formerly Laird Connectivity) is offering a development kit giveaway that includes a System on Module (SOM), a carrier board, a wireless module, and an antenna. Ezurio specializes in SOMs featuring NXP i.MX processors, including the i.MX 8M Mini, 8M Plus, and i.MX 93, with support for both Android and Linux. The giveaway also includes Sona WiFi 6/6E and Bluetooth LE modules.
My name is Maxwell Clarke, I am an embedded systems engineer at Aaron Clarke where I am researching machine learning application development. An easy way to get started with machine learning development is to use an off-the-shelf development board. Here are some development boards I've identified that support machine learning. I will be posting tutorials for some of these boards in the upcoming weeks.
Arduino Tiny Machine Learning Kit
This kit's main purpose is to run TinyML projects by using TensorFLowLite on the board included. It contains an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense board, which features the 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller in an nRF52840 processor from Nordic Semiconductors. The board also has sensors for proximity, motion, and many other measurements. The kit costs $60 from the Arduino Store.
The BeagleBone AI-64 has great computing power as it contains a Texas Instruments TDA4VM SoC with a dual 64-Bit Arm Cortex-A72 microprocessor. It interfaces via a M.2E-key PCIe USB 3.0 connector for WiFi, Ethernet, and USB 3.0. Also included are 4-Lane CSI and DSI connectors for cameras and displays, respectively. It is available for about $190 from online distributors such as Digi-Key.
This board uses a TI AM67A Arm- based vision processor, which contains a 64-bit Arm Cortex-A53 Microcontroller. It also has a BM3301 BLE module for networking over BLE. Other features include 3 displays including touchscreen support, a 10-pin Tag-Connect and 4 USB3 ports. It is less expensive than the AI-64 as it has a cost of around $70.
This kit contains the Jetson Orin Nano 8GB, which features an Ampere GPU and a 6-core ARM CPU. It has a processing ability of up to 40 TOPS, making it the most powerful board on this list. Due to its top performance capabilities, it cost $500 from online distributors such as SparkFun.
Renesas Microcontrollers & Microprocessors (MCUs, MPUs)
Renesas currently has a Reality AI Software which is useful for all sorts of ML applications. They also have a wide range of microcontrollers which are compatible with their software. For example, there are RH850 Automotive MCUs for automotive applications, and RL78 Low Power 8 & 16-bit MCUs |which are good for getting started. Many of the microcontrollers such as the R7F7015813AFP-C#AA3 , which has a cost of $17, can be purchased from online distributors.
I haven't found as many Black Friday promotions this year for electronics - probably due to the ongoing supply chain issues. If you see a good deal that is not in the list, please leave a comment.
Adafruit has a code for 15% off all weekend here. It's also Feather Friday which means 20% off all Feather (mainboards) and wing (daughterboards) with the code shown in the site header today.
Parts Express (audio components) has 10% of sitewide.
Pololu Robotics & Electronics Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on select products are here.
RobotShop has a sale on some items until November 30 here.
Jameco Electronics has free shipping with a code on all orders.
The 2021 Adaptive Computing Challenge at hackster.io will reward top Xilinx development projects up to $10,000 (prizes are all Visa gift cards). You can apply for free hardware to compete in the contest until October 15, 2021. Final submissions are due February 28, 2022. The Xilinx University Program is sponsoring an additional $2500 prize for college students.
There are three main categories in the contest: Edge Computing, Data Center AI and Big Data Analytics. The edge computing requires a solution running on the Xilinx Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit. Data center AI must use the Xilinx VCK5000 development card. Big data analytics requires the Xilinx Big Data Analytics card (not much information on this board).
The Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit is listed at $199 but currently out of stock at most distributors. It is meant for vision application development for Edge computing. It has multiple camera interfaces including support for the Raspberry Pi camera module. Multiple cameras are supported by using additional interfaces such as IAS or USB. A power supply is also required. One is also included in the basic accessory pack which also includes a 13MP camera module, available from Xilinx for $59.
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| KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit with Basic Accessory Pack |
The MIDI Innovation Awards, a design competition for MIDI hacks, DIY projects, or innovative MIDI products is now open with final judging at NAMM 2021. This competition was announced by Music Hackspace, the MIDI Association and NAMM.
The first prize includes an exhibition booth and free advertising at the 2022 NAMM show. Other prizes to be announced. Submissions of existing commercialized products and art installations are also eligible. For more details see the Music Hackspace Innovation Awards page.
Arduino and Seeed have released the Arduino Sensor Kit for $23 (USD). The kit includes 10 modules and sensors including light, sound, air pressure, temperature, an accelerometer, buzzer, button, and a small OLED screen. The Arduino sensor kit base is an Arduino Shield (daughterboard) so you will need an Arduino UNO or compatible board to use it. If you buy both from Arduino you can get them bundled for a discounted price ($38.70). The Arduino Sensor Kit can be purchased directly from Arduino or Seeed and Arduino has developed a step-by-step tutorial to go with it and the Arduino UNO.
Seed has a very similar all-in-one board, the Seeed Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino ($19.90), which includes an Arduino compatible base board.
Black Friday is a great time to get a new development board or some parts for a DIY electronics project. Here are a few great online electronics stores where you can find deals.
Adafruit is having two sales, one is for 15% all items in stock with the code ADATHX see more details in the Adafruit Thanksgiving Weekend Sale blog post. The Adafruit Feather line of development boards is 20% off today only with the same code, see Adafruit Feather Friday Sale for details.
Polulu has a few different Black Friday deals. There are coupons for individual products, discounts on your entire order and the unique design your own deal sale. Follow this link to Pololu Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale 2020 for the details.
The design your own deal allows you to propose propose a discount for up to three products. Last year I was able to get even bigger discounts than I asked for. I don't recall the original prices but I was pleasantly surprised that they were all approved and discounted further. Here are my three wishes and the deals I was offered.
You requested: 1 at $12.00 each.We can do even better! Up to 3 at $8.88 each.You requested: 1 at $3.00 each.We can do even better! Up to 3 at $2.75 each.
You requested: 1 at $15.00 each.We can do even better! Up to 3 at $14.00 each.
SparkFun Black Friday Deals are discounts from 15 to 60 percent off select products. There are not as many deals here but you might get lucky and find something you want. You can also check out this sneak peak of Cyber Monday Deals.
At the Black Friday Sale on Tindie many development boards are discounted. Tindie is a unique online store featuring independent sellers of all kinds of development boards and accessories for unique applications. If you haven't been to this site before it's a great time to look around.
SparkFun Electronics is offering a web based custom board design service called SparkFun A La Carte (ALC). You can choose from a few different microcontrollers that can run Arduino programs. You also have a choice of I/O, connectors and power options. Communications options include RFID, WiFi and Bluetooth. There is a one-time design fee for each board and a per unit cost calculated as you add the components. You can get a 50% discount on the design fee until 12/31/2020 with the promocode ALCSPARKFUN50. For more information see this ALC post on the SparkFun Blog
This YouTube video on the custom board designer goes over an example design.
