Open Source Spatial AI From The Biggest Name in Computer Vision.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
OAK-D-Lite Campaign - Last 11 Hours - Web Cam Support and Custom Training Course
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 05:51:04 AM
Hi O.G. Backers!
Thanks again for backing this campaign.
TLDR: The OAK-D-Lite campaign (here) closes in 11 hours; last chance for 40% Discount.
And sorry to anyone who would have liked this reminder sooner. We didn't think to post it until now - only 11 hours before the OAK-D-Lite campaigns.
There Are Stretch Goals In That Campaign That Benefit You
With no action needed on your part. This OAK-D-Lite campaign literally resulted in every OAK you already have getting a lot better. You may want to just scroll the campaign to learn about all the new things your OAKs can do.
For some specific highlights, see below:
So you get official YOLOv5 support, Official Android Support, Official Neural Depth Support and Plug&Play Unity Support. Pretty cool, right?!
Everything we make for OAK-D-Lite also runs on all the OAK-D models in here. And a bunch of it works on OAK-1 as well (everything except things that require the 3 cameras of OAK-D models).
And we're tantalizingly close to hitting our $1 million stretch goal - which will then see
Official Web Cam Support & Custom Training Course with Roboflow
So close. We think we'll make it.
So Why Are We Letting You Know?
3 Reasons:
In case you missed our day-of launch post 30 days ago and you DO want an OAK-D-Lite for 40% off.
There's just a bunch of new stuff that your OAKs can do. Literally everything on this page. (We're an engineering-only company; so the only time we remember to compile stuff is in preparation for KickStarters - so the KickStarter serves as a great time-capsule of what OAKs can do at that time.)
The last stretch goals we haven't hit yet. Since these benefit you - we want to give you the chance to go back the campaign if you'd like to help push it over $1 million - to unlock web cam support and the custom training course. We're offering OAK-D, OAK-1, OAK-D-PoE, and OAK-1-PoE there at 20% off as well (to say thanks to current and previous backers).
That's all!
There's always some risk in posting something like this that it may come off as SPAM/etc...
Please trust us that our reason for this is those folks who would be like "You were selling those at 40% off and I missed it!" <Holds head in hands>. We realized that if we didn't post some folks would be legit bummed that they didn't find out about this.
Thanks again for all the support. You will always have a dear place in our hearts as our OG backers!
Luxonis/OpenCV
OAK-D-Lite is LAUNCHING! + Adorable 4K Video from OAK-D-Lite + How the Sausage is Made
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 04:28:29 PM
Hi everyone,
Today is the day. OAK-D-Lite is launching. Right now. If you want one, go get one while the Super Early Birds are still available:
That's 4K video, encoded onboard OAK-D-Lite, and in this case, stored to my (old) Macbook as it was the quickest thing to grab when we realized (today) we should make this footage (for tomorrow).
And for the astute observer who thought to themselves "why is he looking so intently at that thing?", or perhaps the even-more astute observer who realized that one of the rubber bands was indeed over the RGB camera - yep, the footage from that run was useless - because the rubber band was indeed in front of the RGB camera (which is 13MP on OAK-D-Lite).
The Rubber Band I notice mid-way through the video above:
This footage would have been _even_ cuter if it weren't for my apparently-horrible rubber-banding-an-OAK-D-Lite-to-an-iPhone skills. (On a technical aside - I don't quite know how/why the autofocus is still able to do a competent job here.)
Anyway, don't forget to back OAK-D-Lite, and tell everyone you know about it.
It's the highest value/money thing I've ever been a part of making.
And we hope it can have a hugely positive impact on the world... enabling makers, engineers, hobbyists, artists, students - anyone - to be able to harness Spatial AI Super Powers.
Cheers,
Brandon and the OpenCV/Luxonis Team
OAK-D-LITE : Spatial AI for Everyone [Photo Inside]
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 01:09:16 AM
Hi OpenCV AI Kit Backers,
When we launched OAK-D, we enabled thousands to harness the power of Spatial AI for the first time.
But the device was too expensive. Making it unusable in all sorts of applications. So although everyone loved the spatial AI super powers of OAK-D - and wished they could use it to solve their problem - too often they were blocked by device-cost alone.
So in working with the community, we discovered that we hadn’t yet made what we - and thousands of others - actually needed.
Fortunately, the community-driven success of this KickStarter - your help - gave us the degrees of freedom necessary to make the next generation inexpensive enough, small enough, and light enough - to unlock all of these previously-blocked applications.
So at 6 AM Pacific Time on Sep 15, 2021, we will witness the start a new era in spatial AI with the launch of OAK-D-Lite.
OAK-D-Lite is OAK-D's little sister. Powerful, compact, delightfully lightweight, and yet ridiculously inexpensive.
It comes equipped with a 4K RGB camera and a stereo pair for real-time depth estimation, just like OAK-D.
And it's fully API compatible with OAK-D - meaning all the documentation, tutorials and courses, open source implementations, and numerous free models available through Modelplace.AI that you are used to all will work with OAK-D-Lite.
1st BACKER REWARDS
Our super backers mean a LOT to us.
Reward for 1st backer: One FREE version of every OAK available now (OAK-1, OAK-D, OAK-D-PoE, and OAK-1-PoE), and one future version (OAK-D-Pro).
Reward for 1st minute backers: A free desktop tripod.
Reward for 1st hour backers: We are working with our partners to get some free rewards for our backers. Stay tuned for more information tomorrow.
SUPER EARLY BIRD PRICE
The best price for OAK-D-Lite will be available to the first 274 backers! You can also purchase packs of more than 1 units. The quantities available for Super Early Bird price are shown below.
1 Pack : 274
3 Pack : 91
10 Pack : 27
25 Pack : 11
100 Pack : 3
How to not miss the Super Early Bird Price
Our campaigns are massive, and because of the limited quantities, Super Early Bird price will probably last only a few minutes.
To make sure you do not miss it, please get ready with the following steps
Remind your friend to make a Kickstarter account if they do not have one (You have one, right?)
Add a credit card to the account. If you live outside the United States, please make sure to use a card that works internationally.
Mark your calendar or set an alarm for 6 AM Pacific Time on Sep 15, 2021.
How to win a FREE OAK-D-Lite
We are giving away free units to 74 randomly selected subscribers. To enter:
The winners will be announced on Sep 15 and you will receive your unit along with other Kickstarter backers.
We Need Your Help - Tell Everyone
The entire OAK-D-Lite effort is about getting the price down as low as possible - to enable as many people as possible to solve their important problems.
So everything was architected with this in mind. The mechanical design, the images sensors, the custom camera modules, the printed circuit board - and even the gift box - all to keep the cost as low as possible. To allow as many people as possible to access this technology, this power.
And this flows to marketing and advertising as well. With a typical KickStarter campaign a full 30% of a backer's payment goes to marketing/advertising - to 3rd parties used by the creator. So if you back a $200 product, $60 of your money is going to paying for ads, paying marketing firms who design and orchestrate the adds, etc. And this 30% is low compared to normal product launches, which are typically more like 40%+ of the money spent on a product goes to marketing/sales/advertising for that product - rather than the engineering, design, software, or parts that make up that product.
So in short, you're getting a way worst product than you could if all the money was spent on the product, rather than the marketing.
That's why with this KickStarter we did not buy a single add. So 0% of your money went to marketing/advertising/etc. - it all went into making the product as awesome as possible.
With the OAK-D-Lite campaign we are doing the same. Not a single cent of your money will be spent on marketing/advertising/etc. Everything will go to making the product itself, the firmware, software, and AI ecosystem as great as we can.
And this is why a "dumb" 4k camera costs ~2.5x as much as OAK-D-Lite will. While OAK-D-Lite has so much more - 4k video, 13MP stills, 4 TOPS of compute, built-in disparity depth, and an aluminum enclosure with Gorilla-glass front.
So what does this mean for you? You are our marketing. To keep the cost as low as possible - we rely on you to share this with the world. You pay less money to marketers this way and all the money you do pay goes to making the device, firmware, and software ecosystem better. But to get the word out - we rely on you to talk about this, to share it on LinkedIN, Twitter, and just generally get a hold of as many people who may need this technology as possible.
A TON of you do this already - and we see that - thank you!
For those who would love to help but don't know how, a quick idea is to share your favorite video from OpenCV Competition, here along with the OAK-D-Lite KickStarter link here. The whole point of OAK-D-Lite is to enable amazing applications like these to actually be implemented at scale - to the point where they can really have the meaningful impact on the world that we all want.
Applications like below:
We are convinced there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other applications just as amazing and impactful as this one - which will be unlocked by the low cost of OAK-D-Lite.
And it may be worth mentioning to anyone who has a kid (of any age) that OAK-D-Lite, paired with Cortic Technologies' CEP allows even 1st-graders to start learning about programming, Spatial AI, and Computer Vision (and robots!). So OAK-D-Lite is a perfect gift for anyone with kids interested in tech. Not only can they do super fun things with legos, they can learn incredibly-useful skills while doing so..
And if you have other ideas on how to share - or who we should get this in front of - reach out to us on our Discord (here). As usual, the whole team is there to help.
We can't wait to see what you all build with OAK-D-Lite. Thank you for all your support thus far.
The best is yet to come,
- Luxonis and the OpenCV Team
A New Era in Spatial AI
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Sep 02, 2021 at 03:42:14 AM
Last year, OpenCV and Luxonis changed the game for spatial AI with the launch of this OpenCV AI Kit campaign - over 6500 of you backed the project to the tune of $1.35 million dollars.
Thank you!
In spite of the havoc wreaked by COVID, we delivered on our promise, and got thousands of OAK-Ds in the hands of people around the world. And in return people blew us away with amazing projects and products they built using OAK-D.
OAK-D was ambitious. What's coming next is insane!
September 15, 2021 will mark the start of a new era in spatial AI. We are going to break a price barrier in spatial AI that we could not have imagined just a year back.
What's in the box? We can't tell you yet. All we can say is that it is small, and you will be able to afford it.
Want one for free? We are giving away free units to 74 randomly selected subscribers who click on the button below to love the project on Kickstarter.
The winners will be announced on Sep 15 and you will receive your unit along with other Kickstarter backers.
Campaign Conclusion - and What's Next
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 05:21:57 AM
Hi OAK fans!
We just got our first request for an update from a backer from the whole campaign! That likely means we've been doing a lot of updates. :-).
Campaign Status
So as a quick update/recap:
The whole campaign as been fulfilled.
OAK-1: Shipped in December (planned for December)
OAK-D: Shipped in December (planned for December)
OAK-D-WIFI: Shipped in May (planned for March)
OAK-1-POE: Shipped in July (planned for March)
OAK-D-POE: Shipped in July (planned for March)
All-in-all we shipped to 6,552 unique addresses and shipped close to 10,000 shipments.
And we had a total of 6,920 backers, with the following breakdown:
6,920 backers total
6,552 who ordered a product and filled out their survey so their product(s) have been delivered (shipped per the schedule above)
219 who chipped in $1 or so (but didn't order a product) to say: "Hey it's cool you made that but I don't need that". I think these were primarily the teams'moms. ;-)
141 who ordered a product but never filled out their survey. We've now emailed these folks about 2,000 times through BackerKit. (Just kidding, probably only like 150 times.). We are now "getting desperate" and for a bit over a month+ now we're supplementarily personally emailing as well - to try to get past SPAM filters/etc. (which seems to be more successful). For those we can't get ahold of, we'll be issuing full refunds of their pledge (with us eating the KickStarter and credit card fees) starting on September 1st. This is super atypical; most campaigns just keep this money; we're giving it back as it's the right thing to do. This is so atypical, there's no system for this. We literally have to look up in KickStarter manually and do a multi-step process for the refund for some each of 100+ backers.
6 who have since replied to our prodding this week, and the cameras are in the process of making their way to them.
2 who just-now (while writing this) replied to our personal-email prodding. And after writing this we'll push them through the automation to have their product shipped.
Out of everyone we get ahold of, they all want their OAK instead of a refund. The reason they haven't filled it out is purely SPAM blocking us from getting ahold of them. So this is why we've kept trying.
But come September 1st we will refund any of those 141 who never gave us an address to ship to. So if you see a bunch of "This backer canceled their pledge" in the comments section/etc. - that's actually us refunding all who we couldn't get ahold of. And if you're reading this, and wondering why you haven't received your OAK, it means you are one of these 141!
All-in-all, this campaign apparently had a super-tiny percentage of folks who didn't fill out their survey. Only 2.15% of our backers didn't fill out their survey. What we're told is that this number is usually well over 10%.
So what that tells us is that you all wanted your OAK! (And that 2.15% who never filled out their surveys will be refunded, as mentioned above.)
Thanks to everyone who backed the campaign!
What's Now
First, what's now. We've released a bunch of new features for OAK and our community has produced some great things. To see a quick summary, check out our (first) Luxonis newsletter, here.
What's Next
And as a quick mention of things to come:
We've worked with thousands of OAK users now closely over the course of about a year. On our Discord, via email, on-site (in some cases), and on our forum.
Together the whole community worked to make OAK more useful for everyone. And in this iteration, we got a ton of insights - into AI, software, firmware, and hardware.
Most importantly, together we discovered what really matters (as opposed to what we thought mattered). And equally important, what doesn't matter. In many cases, we were surprised and got insight we never could have had without the community of thousands working together with us. So thank you.
Over this time, we worked (and continue to work) furiously to implementAI, software, and firmware features based on these insights.
But we also got a ton of insight into what mattered in terms of hardware, things that can't be fixed via a software update, specifically:
OAK-D is too big
OAK-D is too heavy
OAK-D is too expensive
Those are hard to fix in software. Especially remotely. ;-)
So having learned so much working with the community on the existing models, we've discovered ways to make OAK-D smaller, lighter, and less expensive - while still retaining all the things that we together discovered really matter (and dropping all those that don't).
We'll have some exciting news to share in the coming weeks. But as a teaser, here's the gift box:
What's to come.
We're incredibly excited to get this next version out. As it is a culmination of all the hard work and incredibly useful feedback of the whole community. And we think this will make OAK-D useful in all sorts of applications where it just couldn't be used before (as it was either too heavy, too large, or too expensive - or too hard to mount; that will be fixed too!).
