Open Source Spatial AI From The Biggest Name in Computer Vision.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Using AI to Control Servo Motors and Create A Pan Tilt Raspberry Pi Camera with OAK
about 3 years ago
– Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 12:21:54 AM
For typical monitoring applications, you may need a wide field of view camera or have multiple cameras set up, to cover a specific area. But as we know cameras are expensive and having more hardware increases the complexity of your project.
If there is a specific object of interest located in the scene, you could save a lot of bandwidth by just focusing on the region of interest of where your target resides. Augmented Startups has created a tutorial showing how to integrate a servo Pan Tilt unit with a Raspberry Pi and OpenCV AI Kit, and MobileNetSSD v2 to track an Object or Person of Interest. You can catch the full video tutorial embedded below, and follow along with their blog post.
This is a great example of using neural results to control a servo which you can use as a template for your own applications. Thanks again to Augmented Startups for this detailed tutorial.
Proposal Phase For OpenCV AI Competition 2021 Ends Tomorrow!
It is almost time for the judges to sort through the hundreds of applications we're recieving, but there is still time to submit your proposal for the OpenCV AI Competition. This is the biggest spatial AI competition in the world with over $400k in prizes. This submission phase ends at 11:59pm on January 27th, 2021 in the Pacific timezone. Learn More and Submit Online:
Yes, you can resubmit your project from the previous competition if you did not win, or if you won, you can apply with improvements to existing solution and resubmit.
Even if your proposal is not selected, you can still win! We are giving away OAK-D to 5 lucky winners randomly selected among all people who submit a valid proposal.
Good luck, everyone!
More OAK Crash Course Content Now Available, OpenCV AI Competition 2021 Deadline Is 1/27
about 3 years ago
– Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 06:56:57 PM
Happy Monday, squad! Today we've got some good news for you today about OpenCV Courses, and an important reminder about the huge OpenCV AI Competition.
New OAK Course Content Now Available
As promised, we’ve continued updating the OpenCV AI Kit Crash Course, and it now includes the following new sections:
Using OAK Python API: DepthAI
Deploying Neural Network Models to OAK
SuperAnnotate: Creating an end-to-end CV pipeline
But that’s not all! Backers have even more to look forward to this month: You will receive an email from OpenCV by the end of January with the instructions to activate your $200 free access to SuperAnnotate. We can’t wait to see what this incredible community creates. If your OpenCV Courses invitation has not yet arrived please contact [email protected] for help. Thank you!
Meanwhile, in competition-land...
OpenCV AI Competition 2021 Update
The submission deadline for OpenCV AI Competition is January 27, 2021. You can find out more on the official page:
This is the biggest spatial AI competition in the world with over $400k in prizes.
In this preliminary phase (the submission period ends on January 27th) you simply have to submit a proposal to enter the competition. We’ve prepared several other Frequently Asked Questions to the page, including a sample project submission PDF.
210 teams will be selected for the finals based on the submitted proposals. Each member of the selected teams will receive an OpenCV AI Kit with Depth (OAK-D) which retails for $299. You will also receive free passes for Microsoft Azure, and Intel Dev Cloud from our generous sponsors.
Even if your proposal is not selected, you can still win! We are giving away OAK-D to 5 lucky winners randomly selected among all people who submit a valid proposal.
Shoot your shot!
European Orders Are Moving! And "March" Shipments Are No Longer Looking Like "March"
about 3 years ago
– Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 06:44:55 AM
First, European Shipments
We're finally getting updates, and the packages are in Europe (and some are already delivered).
TLDR: Some 800+ European shipments ended up having to be relabeled because of Brexit (more explanation at the bottom of this update), so for every one of these backers, a new tracking number has been shipped to your email on file by [email protected].
March is Not So March
Now, for the bad news.
TLDR: Likely the March-shipment units will not be shipping in March.
We were going to be tight on the March shipments anyway, and in doing the order planning for these (we already ordered all the long-lead parts like the cameras and the Myriad X), we got bad news that Chinese New Year (CNY) is effectively all of February. Why is it effectively all of February? So it starts on the 12th, goes to the end, but many suppliers have already stopped or locked orders or will do so February 1st, in preparation to go offline on February 12th. Why can't we do domestic? Well, it turns out everyone else is already doing this, so the delays are as long or longer. And we have yet to be able to find a domestic CM that can hit our quality control metrics for the system on module (for the carrier boards, we have qualified several, but the system on module is the long-lead item).
We're still going to do our best to try to ship in March. But we want to be candid that the chances of us hitting that are slim now. And worse, many reached out asking about `why hasn't my order shipped?`, to which I replied `Oh that was a planned March shipment because it was OAK-D-WIFI, OAK-D-POE, and OAK-1-POE` - and now, a couple weeks (or even days for some who reached out), I'm here telling you these are likely to ship later than March.
How did this happen?
Logistics eating our souls. To put it succinctly, that's how. The two EEs on the team (Brian and me, Brandon), have been working full-time with the logistics mess of the pandemic + Brexit + supply chain disruptions + a huge increase in overall shipments. Days, weeks, and then months have gone by with us hoping each time we'll make more progress on the EE. Each day, we think we'll be able to refocus, and then the next day it's actually worse. Fortunately, now, these months of this are paying off and just over 4,000 of the now 4,955 December shipments have been delivered (we don't know the exact number anymore, as a result of the relabeling that had to occur for 800+ European shipments, that broke our analytics dashboard). (And yes, the total shipments have been going out as all these updates have encouraged some stragglers to complete their previously incomplete surveys.)
So what are we (and have we) been doing about this. When we started to see us two EE's getting consumed on this, we hired a support engineer (to help offload the logistics work), but he unfortunately had a series of medical emergencies and has had to leave the team. So we also in parallel interviewed a bunch of EEs (The Amp Hour helped us with leads, and is the only reason we were able to hire great EEs so fast, thanks Chris Gammell!), and hired 2 Electrical Engineers to take over. And these 2 (David and Sandesh) have been doing a great job. But it took a bit to speed up on the existing designs, tools used, etc., which all added up.
And... we're trying to hired a full-time ME. Because of the uncertainty of the pandemic, our ME team is currently part-time (working their spare time, while holding steady day jobs).
Where do The Designs Stand Now?
The good news is they're all done. And we have prototypes on their way to us, and the design files are available on Github below. A quick aside on that: We originally intended these stretch goal rewards to be that we would make these designs and open-source them (which we have now done) but there was so much excitement about them - that the excitement caught on - and we excitedly then made these an option to buy - for shipment in March.
The Stretch Goal that we mid-campaign made even stretchier by not just open-sourcing the designs, but allowing pre-order as well.
The other stretch-goal that we made stretchier by allowing pre-order instead of just doing the original intention - which was to make the design and open-source it.
From the survey of backers, this OAK-D-WIFI design was not the preferred form-factory, so we have modified it (below) to use the form-factor that was the most popular vote in our KickStarter survey during the campaign.
The more popular OAK-D-WIFI design - 7.5cm stereo baseline instead of 4.0cm baseline, and a bit less `tall`
There's also a back-story that's particular to OAK-D-WIFI. So we spent 2-3 weeks trying to see if we could git OAK-D-WIFI into the standard OAK-D enclosure (since it's so popular and well received).
Once we finished this, and were getting ready for review, we discovered that this would be problematic for developers. Why? The WiFi module on this design (the ESP32) is fully programmable (and has reference designs for Azure IoT, Amazon IoT, and smartphone apps via Bluetooth). In the OAK-D enclosure, the programmability would be severely limited as the OAK-D enclosure only has a single USB3 connector. Having direct access to the ESP32 over is own microUSB is important in cases where when a developer is writing their own app, they for example disable BT or WiFi on accident. The micro-USB allows them to reconnect directly. And since the ESP32 can actually hold the Myriad X in reset, there is a high risk that without direct microUSB programming access to the ESP32, it would be possible to hard-brick the whole thing.
So, we abandoned the idea of stuffing all this into the OAK-D enclosure, and went back to the most-popular form factor from the voting during the campaign (which got 55.7% of the votes). So unfortunately, this means no included enclosure for OAK-D-WIFI, but we will work to make a new enclosure design as an accessory (as popularly requested).
The tooling on the enclosure for OAK-D-POE has also been started (as of a bit over a week ago), but this is also highly likely to conclude after March because of the February down-time from CNY.
OAK-D-POE Mechanical Design is IP67.
OAK-D-POE Mechanical Design Stackup.
We have since simplified the design above (but don't yet have a full stackup drawing again) based on tooling feedback to improve yield and extended long-term IP67 durability/seal-quality. We will open source these mechanical design files after we go through the full tooling iteration as well.
The mechanical design for OAK-1-POE is less mature than OAK-1-POE, but is expected to be ordered prior to February.
Well, that's it on the "March-shipment" design update. Now, to the question of how is Brexit impacting so many customs agencies:
How Does Brexit Impact So Many Shipments?
Firstly, we are far from experts in logistics. So this is us learning as we hit roadblock after roadblock.
Back to the comment about 'logistics eating our souls'... Again, the below is what we have surmised muddling through all of this. And may be incorrect - it's based on our understanding from us talking to experts in logistics (which we are not).
Brexit caused slowdowns in customs agencies of any countries that ship to/from Brexit.
Some countries that are not the UK ended up having to change their overall policies as a result of Brexit, even with regards to all countries.
The Brexit slowdowns in European countries, then flowed downstream (or upstream) further away from the UK, all the way to ports all over the world, including Hong Kong (where our shipments are coming from), but even ports in Canada (where Canada Post is listing they too are overwhelmed).
In parallel to this, the demand for shipments has never been higher - because of social distancing (i.e. ordering stuff online instead of in a store).
And in parallel to this, the amount of labor in the supply chain is constricted because of pandemic.
So in economic terms, the demand is through the rough and the supply is through the floor, while simultaneously red tape was thrown into the machine.
Thanks,
Brandon
Now Available: Quick Start Guide to OAK Course
about 3 years ago
– Wed, Jan 20, 2021 at 01:51:08 AM
Hello again, computer-visioneers! We’re back, as promised, with another update this week about the OpenCV AI Kit Courses. During the campaign our first stretch goal was a new OAK Crash Course created for backers, and thanks to your generous pledges we passed that goal within 5 hours.
We're happy to announce that as of today, each of you 6,564 backers have been invited to the first part of the OAK Crash Course: Quick Start Guide to OAK. Backers can access this course immediately. Invitations were sent to the email address registered with your Kickstarter account.
As we told you earlier this week, the rest of the 4 phases will be released on a schedule. We hope the newly-released Phase 1 helps everyone get started with their OAKs.
What If I Don’t Get My Invitation?
Check your email spam folder just in case- these things happen sometimes. If your invitation has not arrived please contact [email protected] for help. Thank you!
Delays Impacting All of Europe - We're Doing Everything We Can to Get These Moving
about 3 years ago
– Wed, Jan 20, 2021 at 01:48:58 AM
Shipments to All of Europe Are Stuck
We have bad news that nearly all shipments to Europe are stuck. We are doing everything we can to get these unstuck, and hope to be on the phone with the CEO of BoxC tomorrow (more on that below).
From floship:
"These are currently delayed due to COVID-19 lockdowns across GB and EU and the disruption of Brexit to EU customs authorities."
So if you are in Europe, this will show on your tracking as "SHIPMENT ACCEPTANCE" as the last update, and no update after that, an example below:
All European shipments are currently stuck. This is the status you will see on your order. We are continually asking floship for updates on when these will start moving again, but it seems they do not know, nor does the courier.
Since we can't seem to get any update or estimate of when these will ship from floship, we have been working get ahold of senior BoxC management, and having some success. Through one of their board members (who responded on LinkedIN), it looks like we should be able to be on the phone with their CEO and/or COO tomorrow.
And sorry to all European backers that these are taking so long to get moving. We are doing everything we can to get these going. However frustrated you feel, you can rest assured we are 1,000x that level of frustration and are channeling it to brainstorm any/all ideas to try to get these unstuck, including LinkedIN-ing everyone who may be able to help.
We will keep everyone posted.
United States - USPS
So far 1,050 units have been successfully delivered in the US.
The most common question/concern about the US deliveries is getting a notification that your package was delivered, only to not see anything on your doorstep.
The confusion here is mainly because we didn't make clear that almost all (if not all) US shipments are delivered locally by USPS. So your tracking number also works on USPS.com to get your status (and where it was delivered).
In these cases, it has so far always been the case that the package is in the USPS mailbox or USPS parcel locker (with a key to the parcel locker in the USPS mailbox).
So if your package is delivered and you don't see it, check your mailbox and/or your parcel locker.
Stretch Goal Models: OAK-D-WIFI, OAK-D-POE, and OAK-1-POE Ship in March
These 3 models are `stretch goal` models with shipping in March (we are still striving to hit this, and we'll do an update on the designs soon).
So one of the main confusions here is orders of say an OAK-1 and then an OAK-D, where the OAK-D was changed to an OAK-D-WIFI in BackerKit. The backer then is alarmed to see only an OAK-1 arrive without and OAK-D. Or worse, have a tripod arrive, with no OAK at all!
So in these cases it has always been the case (so far) that the other unit that did not arrive is one of the stretch-goal models that ships in March:
OAK-D-WIFI
OAK-D-POE
OAK-1-POE
So if you receive a package without everything you think it should have (e.g. missing an OAK-D), check your BackerKit for if you changed your OAK-D to one of these stretch-goal models.
Delivery Updates in General
2,319 orders have now been delivered.
2,397 are in transit (including the European shipments that are stuck)
272 are "Out for Pick Pack"
1116 are pending approval
15 are incomplete (and we are continuing to work with backers to fix addresses/etc.).
