Charmed Labs Vizy AI Camera 4GB

• Charmed Labs Vizy AI Camera 4GB
• Includes 4GB RAM version of Raspberry Pi
• Offers a 12-megapixel camera sensor
• Includes 32 GB Ultra MicroSDXC
• Switchable IR filter for day or night use
• Power supply: AC 25 W

The Charmed Labs Vizy AI Camera 4GB is a complete and ready-to-run AI camera. It offers a 12-megapixel camera sensor and comes with a 4 GB RAM version of the Raspberry Pi, including a quad-core ARM processor, WiFi, gigabit Ethernet, and 4 USB ports. Vizy uses the same Sony image sensor (IMX477) as the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera, so it works with existing drivers and software. Vizy comes with a high-resolution, wide-angle, 3.25 mm M12 lens. It’s perfect for most applications, and it doesn’t suffer from distortion like most C/CS wide-angle lenses (see picture below.) At 87 degrees, it’s horizontal field-of-view is wider than most smartphone cameras.

Vizy’s camera has an electronically switchable IR-cut filter for use in daytime and nighttime. During the daytime, the IR-cut filter provides the maximum color fidelity. During nighttime, the IR-cut filter can be switched out electronically so you can use IR lighting to illuminate what Vizy sees while also being discreet. (Be sure to check out the outdoor enclosure below, which includes a built-in IR light.)

The high-resolution camera with high-quality optics supports both daytime and nighttime viewing. Easy-to-use digital and analog I/O with high-current output can be used for controlling motors, solenoids, relays, lighting (and even sprinkler valves!).

Vizy comes with deep-learning neural networks that make the detection of objects, people, and/or animals straightforward. The Web-browser UI can be accessed from your computer, tablet or phone, locally or remotely. You don’t need to install special software to interact with Vizy, and Vizy works with all major operating systems. Additionally, it’s possible to interact with Vizy remotely over the Internet.

Easy-to-use Python application software lets you run applications others have written, or customize/write your own. Python is easy to learn and easy to use, while also being productive and powerful. Writing a browser-based application in Python can be challenging because you usually need to write additional code in HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Vizy uses a framework called Dash, which makes web-based GUI controls, data visualization and video streaming simple, and there’s no need to write any code in HTML, JavaScript or CSS.

Lastly, all processing is done onboard. It doesn’t use servers for AI processing, so you don’t need a network connection or pay a monthly server fee.

Vizy patiently sits and gathers images and then interprets what it sees by using its advanced AI. So it makes sense that Vizy wants to share the information that it has painstakingly gathered, either by uploading pictures and videos to the cloud (e.g. through Google Photos), by texting you, or by sending you an email.

Vizy supports safe shutdown, so its Linux file system won’t be compromised. You can also put Vizy into hibernation mode and set an alarm for it to wake up at a specified time. Vizy’s power electronics have a dedicated processor that handles advanced power modes like hibernation and alarm wake-up.

Real-time clock with battery backup: Vizy has a real-time clock with battery backup so it will always know the time/date and doesn’t need to rely on power or a network connection for accurately keeping time.

Vizy ships with several ready-to-run applications:

Birdfeeder

The Birdfeeder application watches your bird feeder and can identify 20 common bird species. It captures pictures of the birds and uploads them to the cloud (Google Photos) for you to view and see what birds have been visiting your bird feeder.

It can also identify squirrels, opossums, raccoons or unwelcome bird species. If you give Vizy the ability, it will “take care of things”. Vizy could for example control a sprinkler valve with its high-current I/O and send the unwelcome visitors a discouraging message in the form of a harmless squirt of water.

Vizy will record these interactions as short videos and upload those to the cloud as well. Think of Vizy as a tool to encourage squirrels to stick to acorns and the like, so that your avian friends can enjoy the food you’ve so generously provided for them.

Motionscope

Motionscope has been written after asking physics teachers what tools they would like to have available to teach and study the concepts of projectile motion. Concepts such as velocity, acceleration, momentum and energy. Motionscope uses Vizy’s camera to capture the motion of moving objects. It can accurately measure the position, velocity and acceleration of each object in each frame.

Motionscope can also display graphs of each object’s x and y position, velocity and acceleration. Or if you prefer, Motionscope can provide the raw motion data in spreadsheet form. Sliders allow you to adjust the spacing of the data points and the size of the time window. Motionscope is a fully-functional application that demonstrates the diverse possibilities of Vizy’s potential uses!

Telescope

The Vizy Telescope application can help explore the night sky. It can be used with motorized telescope mounts like the Sky Watcher Virtuoso or the Celestron NexStar series. Vizy can control these mounts directly while taking pictures and processing the images. Vizy attaches to the telescopes with a standard 1.25 inch barrel adapter that’s available as an accessory.

Vizy can automate tasks such as finding objects like stars, planets, satellites, tracking these objects, taking multiple long exposures, stacking the images to reduce noise and uploading the pictures to the cloud. Being able to control your telescope and see what it sees remotely is nice as well!

Pet Companion

Pet Companion can detect your dog or cat, take pictures and videos of them and upload them to the cloud for you and your family/friends to enjoy. You can connect to Pet Companion remotely to check on your pet and give them treats, for example.

Pet Companion is offered as a tutorial to help you learn how to create your own Vizy applications. You can easily customize Pet Companion to your pet’s needs.