Arducam PiNSIGHT - A 4 TOPS AI camera board for the Raspberry Pi 5

Arducam PiNSIGHT is an AI camera board designed for the Raspberry Pi 5 equipped with a 12.3MP auto-focus module and an Intel Movidius Myriad X-powered SoM delivering up to 4 TOPS and supporting Intel OpenVINO deep learning models.

The PiNSIGHT “AI Mate” is mounted underneath the Raspberry Pi 5 to which it is connected through a 15-cm USB-A to USB-C cable. The case is made of metal and acts as a heatsink, and Arducam told CNX Software it dissipates heat enough to cool down the Raspberry Pi 5, and they don’t think the active cooler is needed anymore. In other words, it also acts as a fanless enclosure albeit it’s not in contact with the CPU, so whether it’s enough probably depends on your use case…

Arducam PiNSIGHT “AI Mate” specifications:

AI accelerator – Luxonis OAK-SoM based on Intel Movidius Myriad X vision processing unit delivering up to 4 TOPS for AI inference.
Image Sensor
- Still Resolution – 12.3 Megapixels
- Video Modes – 4056×3040 @ 30fps, 3840×2160 @ 30fps, 1920×1080 @ 60fps
- Output Format – RAW10/YUV/NV12/RGB
- Sensor Resolution – 4056 x 3040 pixels
- Sensor image area – 6.287mm x 4.712 mm (7.9mm diagonal)
- Pixel Size – 1.55 µm x 1.55 µm
- Optical Size – 1/2.3″
- IR Sensitivity – Integral IR-cut Filter, visible light only
Lens
- Focus Type – Auto Focus
- Focal Length – 4.81mm
- F.NO – F1.8
- Field of View (FoV) – 81°(D)×69°(H)×55°(V)
- Lens Mount – Stock Lens
- Distortion – 1%
- Default Focus Range – 15cm to ∞
Host interface – USB 3.0 Type-C port
Compatibility
- Raspberry Pi 5 and Raspberry Pi 4 (earlier models may not deliver enough performance); other mechanically compatible SBCs with a USB 3.0 port should also work.
- Standard mounting thread for tripods and other mounts
Power Supply – 5V/1A via USB-C port
Dimensions – 88.5 x 58 x 10 mm
Temperature Range – -20°C to 50°C

The solution will offer performance and features similar to the Luxonix OAK-D Series 2 USB and PoE cameras since it’s based on the same Robotics Vision Core 2 (RV2 core) and DepthAI, and the main difference is that the Arducam PiNSIGHT is specially designed for the Raspberry Pi 4/5 to enables a more compact AI vision solution.

Some of the computer vision algorithms supported by the AI camera include face recognition, fatigue detection, object recognition, anomaly detection, and pose estimation. You’ll find how to get started with the camera and Python samples on the documentation website.

The Arducam PiNSIGHT AI camera for the Raspberry Pi 5 can be pre-ordered for $69.99 on the ArduCam store with deliveries scheduled to start by the end of March. The kit includes the camera board with a heatsink and a 15cm USB 3.0 Type-C cable, and you’ll need to source your own Raspberry Pi board. More details may also be found on the product page.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.