5 ms·

Edge TPU: Hands-On with Google’s Coral USB Accelerator

49 points by rdeepc 8y ago

sdenton4 8y ago
(To be clear, the edge USB device works with the raspberry pi, but throughput is limited to USB 2.0 speeds... Because that's the speed of rpi USB ports. It's not clear to me what the author is asking for wrt full support for the pi.)
- austin_kodra 8y ago
  Thanks for pointing this out. The wording there didn't quite capture what it was supposed to. We've gone back and adjusted the language to reflect this (I helped edit this post with the OA).
jwr 8y ago
The Edge TPU looks like a cool toy. But I would never base a product on anything that Google makes (either hardware or software). It's here today, and might not be here tomorrow, at Google's whim. I think the value of Edge TPU is mostly educational. And before someone waters this down with "but every company has whims and every company can discontinue products" — in electronics, companies will guarantee 10-15 year lifetimes, especially for automotive-grade parts, with end-of-life buy notices well ahead of sunsetting.
- noir_lord 8y ago
  Even Raspberry Pi which started off as specifically educational does 5 year release cycles on their CM (Compute Modules) which is why companies like NEC use them in their solutions.
  - jwr 8y ago
    Yes — and I have actually designed a product that used an RPi Compute Module, checking their lifetime promises first.
- bb88 8y ago
  > ... in electronics, companies will guarantee 10-15 year lifetimes. That's true only on parts that are already in high demand, and this doesn't strike me as a high demand chip (at least not initially). And even then, you're not guaranteed any kind of availability on the part. (Maxim comes to mind). Or it's only available with a 6 month lead time and minimum part quantities on the order, etc. So this seems to be a problem of this particular space, and blaming Google for acting normal in this space seems silly.
  - dbuder 8y ago
    Google makes Maxim look good, you can at least lean on Maxim and they won't spy on you to make a competing product.
aloer 8y ago
Are there comparisons between this and the google AIY vision kit with their vision bonnet? I’d assume it was developed at google by the same team
- rdeepc 8y ago
  There will be a comparison with Intel NCS
gok 8y ago
Hm but is it fast?
- rdeepc 8y ago
  Its faster than any other products of its kind
  - sliken 8y ago
    I've love to see some performance comparison for the Google Edge TPU, the Intel USB widget, and anything else in that price bracket.
    - rdeepc 8y ago
      I have Edge TPU, Intel NCS, and vision kit hope to make a comparison among them
snops 8y ago
A benchmark test against Nvidia Jetson would be very interesting, especially if it compared power consumption as well.
- rdeepc 8y ago
  There will be a comparison with Intel NCS
dcplogic 8y ago
Well, this a weird launch. First, they didn't meet their promised "Autumn 2018" deadline. Fine. I'll submit my email to their notification list for when it's available. I don't get any notification email. Then I read this, and then check: https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/edge-tpu https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/edge-tpu It says: "The Edge TPU devices we announced in summer 2018 are now available under the Coral brand. To learn more, visit coral.withgoogle.com." Cool. Thanks for not letting me know. On https://coral.withgoogle.com/ https://coral.withgoogle.com/ there are mouser.com links https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/dev-board/ https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/dev-board/ "Dev Board , $149.99, Ships within 1 week" This links to: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01455-01?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtw0nEwywcFgJjuZv55GFNmP%252BfgDTXLnZ%252B5XIZ6VY5BuA%3D%3D https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01455-01?qs=... (Stock: 0, On Order: 1518, Factory Lead Time: 7 Weeks) .. https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/accelerator/ https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/accelerator/ "USB Accelerator, $74.99" This links to: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01456-01 https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01456-01? qs=sGAEpiMZZMve4%2FbfQkoj%252BNzzHFZgWGqIphwvwTL5xvk%3D (Stock: 0, On Order: 1419, Factory Lead Time: 3 Weeks) I agree with jwr on this. I don't think they had any intention other than making a toy.
nmstoker 8y ago
Here's a video I made of one of the included demos on RPi: https://youtu.be/6uQlCiAGWzc https://youtu.be/6uQlCiAGWzc I didn't yet succeed in converting the installation script so it would run on Arch (unsupported) but I'll try again over the weekend. The support team have been responsive on a number of questions too. When they open up the range of models that can be run, it'll be a huge boost.
- nmstoker 8y ago
  A curious detail I noticed: the USB Id of the Coral Accelerator is for Global Unichip Corp, who are a fabless ASIC design service company (according to their Wikipedia page). I had been expecting it to be Google obviously.
  - londons_explore 8y ago
    That surprises me too - it's very unlike Google to contract out tech like this.
    - snops 8y ago
      Given how the SOM version connects over PCI-E, maybe it is a USB3.0 to PCI-E bridge?
cameldrv 8y ago
The biggest problem is that they provide no specs whatsoever and you have to use their cloud compiler for your models. Even if you stockpile the hardware, if Google gets bored and shuts down the service, you can’t train anymore. Google also gets to see every model you ever deploy to the thing.
- rdeepc 8y ago
  That is a big problem, for now, hope there will a converter script in the stable release

49 points by rdeepc 8y ago

(To be clear, the edge USB device works with the raspberry pi, but throughput is limited to USB 2.0 speeds... Because that's the speed of rpi USB ports. It's not clear to me what the author is asking for wrt full support for the pi.)

austin_kodra 8y ago
Thanks for pointing this out. The wording there didn't quite capture what it was supposed to. We've gone back and adjusted the language to reflect this (I helped edit this post with the OA).

jwr 8y ago

The Edge TPU looks like a cool toy. But I would never base a product on anything that Google makes (either hardware or software). It's here today, and might not be here tomorrow, at Google's whim. I think the value of Edge TPU is mostly educational. And before someone waters this down with "but every company has whims and every company can discontinue products" — in electronics, companies will guarantee 10-15 year lifetimes, especially for automotive-grade parts, with end-of-life buy notices well ahead of sunsetting.

noir_lord 8y ago
Even Raspberry Pi which started off as specifically educational does 5 year release cycles on their CM (Compute Modules) which is why companies like NEC use them in their solutions.
- jwr 8y ago
  Yes — and I have actually designed a product that used an RPi Compute Module, checking their lifetime promises first.
bb88 8y ago
> ... in electronics, companies will guarantee 10-15 year lifetimes. That's true only on parts that are already in high demand, and this doesn't strike me as a high demand chip (at least not initially). And even then, you're not guaranteed any kind of availability on the part. (Maxim comes to mind). Or it's only available with a 6 month lead time and minimum part quantities on the order, etc. So this seems to be a problem of this particular space, and blaming Google for acting normal in this space seems silly.
- dbuder 8y ago
  Google makes Maxim look good, you can at least lean on Maxim and they won't spy on you to make a competing product.

aloer 8y ago

Are there comparisons between this and the google AIY vision kit with their vision bonnet? I’d assume it was developed at google by the same team

rdeepc 8y ago
There will be a comparison with Intel NCS

gok 8y ago

Hm but is it fast?

rdeepc 8y ago
Its faster than any other products of its kind
- sliken 8y ago
  I've love to see some performance comparison for the Google Edge TPU, the Intel USB widget, and anything else in that price bracket.
  - rdeepc 8y ago
    I have Edge TPU, Intel NCS, and vision kit hope to make a comparison among them

snops 8y ago

A benchmark test against Nvidia Jetson would be very interesting, especially if it compared power consumption as well.

rdeepc 8y ago
There will be a comparison with Intel NCS

dcplogic 8y ago

Well, this a weird launch. First, they didn't meet their promised "Autumn 2018" deadline. Fine. I'll submit my email to their notification list for when it's available. I don't get any notification email. Then I read this, and then check: https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/edge-tpu https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/edge-tpu It says: "The Edge TPU devices we announced in summer 2018 are now available under the Coral brand. To learn more, visit coral.withgoogle.com." Cool. Thanks for not letting me know. On https://coral.withgoogle.com/ https://coral.withgoogle.com/ there are mouser.com links https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/dev-board/ https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/dev-board/ "Dev Board , $149.99, Ships within 1 week" This links to: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01455-01?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtw0nEwywcFgJjuZv55GFNmP%252BfgDTXLnZ%252B5XIZ6VY5BuA%3D%3D https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01455-01?qs=... (Stock: 0, On Order: 1518, Factory Lead Time: 7 Weeks) .. https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/accelerator/ https://coral.withgoogle.com/products/accelerator/ "USB Accelerator, $74.99" This links to: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01456-01 https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Coral/G950-01456-01? qs=sGAEpiMZZMve4%2FbfQkoj%252BNzzHFZgWGqIphwvwTL5xvk%3D (Stock: 0, On Order: 1419, Factory Lead Time: 3 Weeks) I agree with jwr on this. I don't think they had any intention other than making a toy.

nmstoker 8y ago

Here's a video I made of one of the included demos on RPi: https://youtu.be/6uQlCiAGWzc https://youtu.be/6uQlCiAGWzc I didn't yet succeed in converting the installation script so it would run on Arch (unsupported) but I'll try again over the weekend. The support team have been responsive on a number of questions too. When they open up the range of models that can be run, it'll be a huge boost.

nmstoker 8y ago
A curious detail I noticed: the USB Id of the Coral Accelerator is for Global Unichip Corp, who are a fabless ASIC design service company (according to their Wikipedia page). I had been expecting it to be Google obviously.
- londons_explore 8y ago
  That surprises me too - it's very unlike Google to contract out tech like this.
  - snops 8y ago
    Given how the SOM version connects over PCI-E, maybe it is a USB3.0 to PCI-E bridge?

cameldrv 8y ago

The biggest problem is that they provide no specs whatsoever and you have to use their cloud compiler for your models. Even if you stockpile the hardware, if Google gets bored and shuts down the service, you can’t train anymore. Google also gets to see every model you ever deploy to the thing.

rdeepc 8y ago
That is a big problem, for now, hope there will a converter script in the stable release