Intel Corp. today debuted a camera system for robots, drones and augmented reality applications that uses a built-in deep learning chip to process visual information.

The new RealSense Tracking Camera T265 (pictured) sports two wide-angle fisheye lenses that can each capture footage in a more than 160-degree field of view. They’re powered by a Movidius Myriad 2 visual processing unit specifically optimized for running deep learning algorithms.

The chip, which is based on technology that Intel obtained through a 2016 acquisition, can be found in millions of connected devices worldwide. It sports 12 processing cores that provide more than 100 gigaflops of performance. One gigaflop equals a billion floating-point operations per second, a standard unit of computing power.

That’s a small fraction of the performance provided by data center-grade graphics cards, but it’s sufficient for the connected devices the T265 targets. It uses a method called visual inertial odometry simultaneous localization and mapping, or V-SLAM, to turn footage from the fisheye lenses into a map of its environments. Robots and drones can harness this feature to avoid obstacles that may be in the way.

The T265’s V-SLAM capability doubles as a way of facilitating autonomous navigation in environments where GPS is unavailable. That includes, among others, indoor settings such as hospitals. The device can use patterns on the walls of a building, landmarks and other visual markers to guide a robot or drone to its designated designation.

The other main use case Intel sees for the T265 is augmented reality. A retailer, for instance, might use the system to power an in-store mobile AR experience for shoppers.

The T265’s built-in silicon and navigation software should make it relatively straightforward for hardware makers to incorporate it into new products. To work with the system, a device only needs to have a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port that provides 1.5 watts of power, plus enough memory to support the boot process.

Intel plans to start shipping the T265 at the end of February for $199.

Photo: Intel