picoLLM is a cross-platform, on-device LLM inference engine

picoLLM Raspberry Pi 5

Large Language Models (LLMs) can run locally on mini PCs or single board computers like the Raspberry Pi 5 but with limited performance due to high memory usage and bandwidth requirements. That’s why Picovoice has developed the picoLLM Inference Engine cross-platform SDK optimized for running compressed large language models on systems running Linux (x86_64), macOS (arm64, x86_64), and Windows (x86_64), Raspberry Pi OS on Pi 5 and 4, Android and iOS mobile operating systems, as well as web browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox. Alireza Kenarsari, Picovoice CEO, told CNX Software that “picoLLM is a joint effort of Picovoice deep learning researchers who developed the X-bit quantization algorithm and engineers who built the cross-platform LLM inference engine to bring any LLM to any device and control back to enterprises”. The company says picoLLM delivers better accuracy than GPTQ when using Llama-3.8B MMLU (Massive Multitask Language Understanding) as a […]

ardEEG shield works with Arduino UNO R4 WiFi for biosignals measurement

ardEEG Shield Arduino UNO R4

PiEEG has launched the ardEEG shield specially designed for the Arduino UNO R4 WiFi and capable of measuring biosignals such as those used in electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and electrocardiography (ECG). PiEEG, led by Ildar Rakhmatulin, Research Associate at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, launched the PiEEG shield for Raspberry Pi to enable brain-computer interfaces last year, and now the company has been working on the equivalent design for Arduino with the ardEEG shield equipped with eight channel taking input from wet or dry electrodes. ardEEG shield key features and specifications ADC – Texas Instruments ADS1299 Analog-to-Digital Converter for biopotential measurements Supported board – Arduino UNO R4 WiFi 8 channels for connecting wet or dry electrodes (Electrodes are positioned according to the International 10-20 system) Host interface – Arduino headers with SPI used for data transfer with a frequency from 250 SPS to 16 kSPS and a resolution of 24 bits […]

XGO-Rider is a 2-wheel self-balancing robot with an ESP32 controller plus either a Raspberry Pi CM4 or BBC Micro:bit (Crowdfunding)

XGO-Rider

XGO-Rider is a two-wheel self-balancing robot with an ESP32 controller for motor and servo control, USB-C charging, etc… and a choice between a Raspberry Pi CM4 module or a BBC Micro:bit board for display, audio, and camera (CM4-only). It’s not the first robot from Luwu Intelligence, since the company launched the XGO-Mini robot dog in 2021, followed by the XGO 2 Raspberry Pi CM4-powered desktop robotic dog with an arm which we reviewed last year. The new XGO-Rider builds on these earlier models but in a different form factor moving from four-legged robots to a 2-wheel self-balancing robot design with many of the same features including AI vision running on the Raspberry Pi CM4. XGO-Rider specifications: Host controller (one or the other) Raspberry Pi CM4 with 2GB RAM + ESP32 for main control, USB-C charging port, DIP switch BBC Micro:bit V2 + ESP32 for main control, USB-C charging port, DIP […]

Sipeed MaixCAM is a RISC-V AI camera devkit with up to 5MP camera, 2.3-inch color touchscreen display, GPIOs

Sipeed MaixCAM

Sipeed MaixCAM is an AI camera based on SOPHGO SG2002 RISC-V (and Arm, and 8051) SoC with a 1 TOPS NPU that takes up to 5MP camera modules and comes with a 2.3-inch color touchscreen display. The development kit also comes with WiFi 6 and BLE 5.4 connectivity, optional Ethernet, audio input and output ports, a USB Type-C port, and two 14-pin GPIO headers for expansion that makes it suitable for a range of computer vision, Smart audio, and AIoT applications. Sipeed MaixCAM specifications: SoC – SOPHGO SG2002 CPU 1 GHz RISC-V C906 processor or Arm Cortex-A53 core (selectable at boot) running Linux 700 MHz RISC-V C906 core running an RTOS 25 to 300 MHz low-power 8051 processor NPU – 1 TOPS @ INT8 with support for models such as Mobilenetv2, YOLOv5, YOLOv8, etc… Video Codec – H.264, H.265, MJPEG hardware encoding and decoding up to 2K @ 30fps Memory […]

Yocto Project 5.0 “Scarthgap” released with Linux 6.6 and plenty of changes

Yocto Project 5.0

The Yocto Project 5.0 codenamed “Scarthgap” has just been released with Linux 6.6, glibc 2.39, LLVM 18.1, and over 300 other recipe upgrades. As a result of the release, the developers have made it available for download (bz2 tarball). The Yocto Project, or Yocto for shorts, is a popular framework used to create custom embedded Linux distributions, and we’ve played with it over the year showing how to create a minimal image for the Raspberry Pi, and last year, we used it again when reviewing two industrial development boards, namely the VOIPAC IMX8M and ADLINK i-Pi SMARC 1200. Yocto is quite a powerful framework/build system with plenty of options that make it highly customizable, but the learning curve is fairly steep. Some other changes in Yocto Project 5.0 include: New variables: CVE_DB_INCR_UPDATE_AGE_THRES: Configure the maximum age of the internal CVE database for incremental update (instead of a full redownload). RPMBUILD_EXTRA_PARAMS: […]

“MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT Command” Review – Using Arduino to test UWB range, precision, indoor positioning

mauwb dw3000 st tag test

Hello, the device I am going to review is the MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT Command. This is an Ultra-wideband (UWB) module from MakerFabs. The core UWB module on this board is the DW3000 UWB transceiver, and it is also equipped with an ESP32 microcontroller programmable with the Arduino IDE, as well as OLED display. The manufacturer claims that this UWB board resolves multiple anchors and tags mutual conflicts and supports up to 8 anchors and 64 tags. Additionally, the manufacturer has added an STM32 microcontroller to handle UWB multiplexing, allowing users to control the core UWB module by simply sending AT commands from an ESP32 microcontroller to the STM32 microcontroller. More information about this UWB board can be found on the manufacturer’s website. “MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT Command” unboxing MakerFabs sent the package to me from China. Inside the package, there were 4 sets of the MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT […]

7-inch Raspberry Pi CM4-based industrial HMI offers gigabit Ethernet, RS485 Modbus, digital and analog inputs

NORVI RPI-HMI Industrial Controller

NORVI RPI-HMI is an industrial controller with a 7-inch touchscreen screen display powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 and equipped with a range of interfaces including a gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, a few USB ports, and several terminal blocks for RS485 (Modbus), digital and analog input, transistor outputs, and 24V DC power input. The new Raspberry Pi CM4-based HMI announcement follows the NORVI ESP32-HMI controller that was launched last December with an ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller and a 5-inch LCD display with resistive touch. The NORVI RPI-HMI builds on that with a much faster Arm processor, a larger display with a capacitive touchscreen, gigabit Ethernet, and a wider range of I/Os that makes it suitable for various industrial HMI and PLC applications. NORVI RPI-HMI Industrial Controller specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor with VideoCore GPU System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 […]

The Lark Weather Station works with Arduino, ESP32, micro:bit, Raspberry Pi, and other boards

Lark Weather Station Arduino ESP32 Raspberry Pi

The Lark Weather Station measures wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and air pressure through a range of sensors and connects to popular development boards such as Arduino UNO, ESP32, BBC micro:bit, Raspberry Pi, or DFRobot Unihiker through I2C or UART. We’ve seen several projects for Internet-connection weather stations that retrieve weather data from the web and display the results locally, but the Lark Weather Station allows the users to get atmospheric data right in his/her current location thanks to its built-in anemometer, wind vane, and built-in sensors, as well as expansion interfaces for additional sensors. Lark Weather Station specifications: Storage – 16MB flash good to store about 160 days of data (when data is recorded once per minute) Sensors Compass Anemometer Wind Speed: 0.5~12m/s Cover to protect the anemometer during storage/transport Wind vane and wind direction shaft to report the wind direction (eight directions) Temperature Range –20~60℃ ±0.2℃ Humidity […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design