Movidius: Neural Compute Stick From INTEL

I’m thrilled to announce the availability of the Movidius™ Neural Compute Stick, a new device for developing and deploying deep learning algorithms at the edge. Intel created the Neural Compute Stick (NCS) to make deep learning application development on specialized the hardware even more widely available.

The NCS is powered by the same low-power Movidius Vision Processing Unit (VPU) that can be found in millions of smart security cameras, gesture-controlled autonomous drones, and industrial machine vision equipment, for example. The convenient USB stick form factor makes it easier for developers to create, optimize and deploy advanced computer vision intelligence across a range of devices at the edge.

The USB form factor easily attaches to existing hosts and prototyping platforms, while the VPU inside provides machine learning on a low-power deep learning inference engine. You start using the NCS with trained Caffe framework-based feed-forward Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), or you can choose one of our example pre-trained networks.  Then, by using Intel The toolkit, you can profile the neural network, then compile a tuned version ready for embedded deployment using Intel Neural Compute Platform API.

Here are some of its key features:

• Supports CNN profiling, prototyping, and tuning workflow
• All data and power provided over a single USB Type A port
• Real-time, on-device inference – cloud connectivity not required
• Run multiple devices on the same platform to scale performance
• Quickly deploy existing CNN models or uniquely trained networks

At the Intel Movidius team, they are inspired by the incredible sophistication of the human brain’s visual system. To get started, you can visit developer.movidius.com.