XIAO ESP32S3 is a tiny ESP32-S3 WiFi 4 and BLE 5.0 module for IoT, AI, and robotics

XIAO ESP32C3

Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 is the new member of the company XIAO family with an ESP32-S3 dual-core wireless microcontroller with WiFi 4 and BLE 5.0 designed for Smart Home, IoT, wearables, and Robotics applications. It succeeds the single-core ESP32-C3-based XIAO ESP32C3  board with the same form factor, but the new XIAO ESP32S3 offers more performance, vector extension for machine learning, more flash, and improved power consumption in deep sleep mode. Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3 specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM, Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.0 dual-mode (Classic + BLE) connectivity Storage – 8MB SPI flash Antenna – External u.FL antenna USB – USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion I/Os 2x 7-pin headers with 1x UART, 1x I2C, 1x SPI, 11x GPIO (PWM), 9x ADC 3.3V I/O voltage (not 5V tolerant) Debugging – JTAG pads Misc […]

Qualcomm Robotics RB1 and RB2 development kits launched for $199 and up

Qualcomm Robotics RB1 RB2 Vision Kit

We quickly mentioned the Qualcomm Robotics RB1 and RB2 development kits in our post about Lantronix Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB SiPs mostly to complain about the lack of information at the time. But things have changed the Qualcomm Robotics RB1 and RB2 devkits for cheaper, smaller Linux-powered robots with lower power consumption are now available, and we have more details with three options: Core Kit, Vision Kit, and Full Kit. So let’s have a closer look. All kits are based on the Qualcomm Robotics RB1/RB2 Core Kit with the following (preliminary) specifications: System-on-module RB1 –  Thundercomm TurboX C2210 SoC – Qualcomm QRB2210 CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A53 processor at up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Adreno 702 GPU at 845 MHz with support for OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 2.0 Hexagon QDSP6 v66 DSP 1080p 30 fps encode / 1080p 30fps decode System Memory – 1GB or 2GB LPDDR4 Storage […]

Lantronix Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB SiPs for robotics power RB1/RB2 development kit

Open-Q RB1 RB2 Development Kit with Qualcomm QRB2210 or QRB4210

What comes after Qualcomm Robotics RB3, RB5, and RB6 platforms? Apparently, it’s Qualcomm Robotics RB1 and RB2 platforms powered by Qualcomm QRB2210 and Qualcomm QRB4210 processors respectively and optimized for cheaper, smaller robots with lower power consumption. But Qualcomm is one of the lamest companies known to man, so they did not include any photos when announcing the Robotics RB1 and RB2 platforms, so I’ll focus this post on Lantronix Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB system-in-packages (SiP) based on the same processors, as well as the Open-Q RB1/RB2 development kit. Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB SiP The new system-in-packages are very similar to the earlier Open-Q 2290CS and 4290CS SIPs for industrial IoT and machine vision applications, with the only difference being the Qualcomm processor used, so I invite you to read the earlier post for the full details, and I’ll just provide summaries here. Open-Q 2210RB key features: SoC – Qualcomm […]

Review of micro:bit XGO Robot Kit – An educational robot dog with a Bluetooth joystick

micro:bit XGO robot kit review joystick

ELECFREAKS micro:bit XGO Robot Kit is a robotic dog designed for robotics education. It moves realistically and acts like a real pet dog, and can help teach various technology concepts related to mechanical engineering, electronics, programming, and artificial intelligence (AI). The kit support both the BBC Micro:bit V1 and V2 boards which can be programmed with Microsoft MakeCode, Python, the Arduino IDE, and other languages. The XGO robot is compact and can be easily used on a desk or table. The robot is made of aluminum metal coated with a beautiful anodized finish. Each leg has 12 high-quality digital servos moving each joint, 3 on each side, totaling 12, helping the robot dog to move smoothly and flexibly. The robot can be controlled with apps, a joystick, and up to 19 ready-made postures, such as holding hands, looking for food, sitting down, squatting, etc… Content of the XGO robot kit: […]

Firefly AIO-3588SG – A compact, low-profile 8K SBC with WiFi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet

AIO-3588SG SBC

Firefly AIO-3588SG is a compact, low-profile SBC with Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, and an 8K capable USB-C port with DisplayPort that is based on the company’s Core-3588SG module powered by a Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor with up to 32GB RAM and 256GB eMMC flash. The board is designed to be as thin as possible and includes a low-profile RJ45 Ethernet jack which should make it suitable for projects and products that require high performance in a thin form factor such as robotics, digital signage, virtual reality headsets, etc… Firefly AIO-3588SG specifications: System-on-module – Firefly Core-3588SG with SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores, Arm Mali-G610 MP4  GPU, 6 TOPS NPU, 8Kp60 video decoder, 8Kp30 video encoder System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB (32GB optional) 64-bit LPDDR4, LPDDR4x, or LPDDR5 Storage – 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, or […]

Vecow ECX-3200 expandable fanless embedded system is powered by a 13th Gen Raptor Lake-S processor

Vecow ECX-3200 fanless Raptor Lake embedded system

Vecow ECX-3200 is an expandable, fanless embedded system powered by Intel 13th generation Core i9/i7/i5/i3 Raptor Lake-S processor or 12th generation Alder Lake-S processor designed for rugged Machine Vision, AMR, Rolling Stock, Smart Retail and Edge AI applications. The ECX-3200 supports up to 64GB DDR5, SATA & NVMe storage, offers four 2.5GbE RJ45 or M12 ports with PoE+ on the rear panel, plus one additional Gigabit Ethernet port and a 2.5GbE port on the front panel, four video outputs up to 8Kp60 resolution, several USB 3.2 ports up to 20 Gbps, some serial ports, as well as isolated I/Os. Vecow ECX-3200 specifications: SoC Up to 24-core 13th Gen Intel Core i9/i7/i5/i3 Raptor Lake-S processor with Intel Xe graphics Up to 16-core 12th Gen Intel Core i9/i7/i5/i3 Processor Alder Lake-S processor with Intex Xe graphics System Memory – Up to 64GB DDR5-4800 (2x 32GB) via 2x SO-DIMM sockets Storage 2x SATA […]

FOSSBot open design 3D printed educational robot is made with Raspberry Pi and off-the-shelf parts

DIY open design robot Raspberry Pi SBC

FOSSBot is an “open design” 3D printed educational robot comprised of a Raspberry Pi SBC and various off-the-shelf modules, as well as open-source software that can be used for education purposes. The FOSSBot DIY robot has been developed by the Harokopio University of Athens and the Greek Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) community, and builds upon the “GSOC 2019 – A DIY robot kit for educators” with the main goal being to have a platform to “familiarize teachers with modern education models based on the S.T.E.A.M approach. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics)”. FOSSbot key components: SBC – Raspberry Pi Zero W, Raspberry Pi 3, or Raspberry Pi 4. Mechanically and electrically compatible Raspberry Pi alternatives could be an option too although part of the software would have to be modified Storage – 32GB MicroSD card Expansion board – Adafruit Perma-Proto HAT for Pi – No EEPROM to connect sensors […]

XGO 2 – A Raspberry Pi CM4 based robot dog with an arm (Crowdfunding)

XGO 2 robot dog with arm

XGO 2 is a desktop robot dog using the Raspberry Pi CM4 as its brain, the ESP32 as the motor controller for the four legs and an additional robotic arm that allows the quadruped robot to grab objects. An evolution of the XGO mini robot dog with a Kendryte K210 RISC-V AI processor, the XGO 2 robot offers 12 degrees of freedom and the more powerful Raspberry CM4 model enables faster AI edge computing applications, as well as features such as omnidirectional movement, six-dimensional posture control, posture stability, and multiple motion gaits. The XGO 2 robot dog is offered in two variants – the XGO-Lite 2 and the XGO-Mini 2 – with the following key features and specifications: The company also says the new robot can provide feedback on its own postures thanks to its 6-axis IMU and sensors for the joints reporting the position and electric current. A display […]

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