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Pixy is a fast vision sensor you can quickly “teach” to find objects, and it connects directly to Arduino and other controllers. It’s great for robotics or any other application that requires computer vision.
After a very successful Kickstarter, Pixy is available now!
Image sensors are useful because they are so flexible. With the right algorithm, an image sensor can sense or detect practically anything. But there are two drawbacks with image sensors:
- they output lots of data, dozens of megabytes per second, and..
- processing this amount of data can overwhelm many processors. And if the processor can keep up with the data, much of its processing power won't be available for other tasks.
Pixy addresses these problems by pairing a powerful dedicated processor with the image sensor. Pixy processes images from the image sensor and only sends the useful information (e.g. purple dinosaur detected at x=54, y=103) to your microcontroller. And it does this at frame rate (50 Hz). The information is available through one of several interfaces: UART serial, SPI, I2C, digital out, or analog out. So your Arduino or other microcontroller can talk easily with Pixy and still have plenty of CPU available for other tasks.
It's possible to hook up multiple Pixys to your microcontroller -- for example, a robot with 4 Pixys and 360 degrees of sensing. Or use Pixy without a microcontroller and use the digital or analog outputs to trigger events, switches, servos, etc.
Pixy can find literally hundreds of objects at a time. It uses a connected components algorithm to determine where one object begins and another ends. Pixy then compiles the sizes and locations of each object and reports them through one of its interfaces (e.g. SPI).
For more information check Pixy's website (see links below).
Specification:
- Processor: NXP LPC4330, 204 MHz, dual core
- Image sensor: Omnivision OV9715, 1/4", 1280x800
- Lens field-of-view: 75 degrees horizontal, 47 degrees vertical
- Lens type: standard M12 (several different types available)
- Power consumption: 140 mA typical
- Power input: USB input (5V) or unregulated input (6V to 10V)
- RAM: 264K bytes
- Flash: 1M bytes
- Available data outputs: UART serial, SPI, I2C, USB, digital, analog
- Dimensions: 53.3 x 50.8 x 35.6mm (2.1" x 2.0" x 1.4")
- Weight: 27g
Note: For connecting the Pixy to a Computer you need a USB mini cable which is not included with the Pixy Cam. See below for recommended cables.
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