Eyes of Things European Commission computer vision platform taking shape

Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 (H2020) framework, the Eyes of Things (EoT) is a computer vision project consortium comprised of eight European partners that aims to build a tiny intelligent camera targeted at OEMs to provide a tool to develop visually intelligent products and services with short time-to-market. Since the project launched in January of 2015, the project has made some marked progress.

The consortium, which consists of VISILAB (Spain, Project Coordinator), Movidius (Ireland), Awaiba (Portugal), DFKI (Germany), Thales (France), Fluxguide (Austria), nViso (Switzerland), and Evercam (Ireland), is a €3.7 million project that specifically aims to build an optimized core vision platform that can work independently and also embedded into all types of devices to create something that "goes beyond what current vision systems can do."

To date, the team has developed a number of iterations of the physical device (Pictured above, more images here.) The idea is to fit the fundamental components, including camera, processor, and WiFi, into a pen-drive sized component. The team has designed and developed these main components to provide the best trade-offs in terms of processing power, efficiency, cost, and size. As it stands, the bill of materials for the EoT device is estimated at $12.

Hardware development, according to project coordinator Oscar Deniz Suarez, runs in parallel to the development of associated software, which will run both in the device and in external controlling computers, whether those be smartphones, tablets, or PCs. In the coming months, new versions of the device will be released, which will more closely resemble the final device both in physical aspect and software capabilities. The EoT device will target such applications as surveillance, wearable camera, and embedded into consumer goods such as toys. Companies and research organizations have shown early interest, with some of their input making its way into the design, according to Suarez.

The first public demonstration of the device is schedule for the 9th International Conference on Distributed Smart Cameras, which is schedule for September 8-11 in Seville, Spain. This will be followed by ICT 2015. The final device is expected to be completed by September 2016, with demonstrators being developed in 2017.

View more information on the Eyes of Things.

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