5 ms·

Intel is giving up on its AI-powered RealSense cameras

69 points by danboarder 5y ago

19h 5y ago
I wasn't even aware those cameras existed. How's it that companies keep killing products when they essentially invest zero into marketing them? Seems like they didn't even try .. The concept of the RealSense cameras seems really interesting, especially for building IoT projects that require a lidar or face detection for authentication etc.. At $249 and $369 they also seem really affordable for those projects... what a pity.
- p_l 5y ago
  RealSense was reasonably big in industrial solutions, either directly or as part of solutions from robotics vendors. I know of them from trying to optimize bin packing of items in transport racks :-)
- belval 5y ago
  I got an SR300 for 150$ CAD, really sad to see them shutdown, the product really felt high-quality at a price point that was not obscene for a 1080p camera + 480p depth sensor.
jimmySixDOF 5y ago
MS still has Azure Kinect (basically v3) which is integrated to the AR/Hololens ecosystem. There are so many advances every year in Computer Vision that make use of RGB-D so I hope the field will expand not contract - specifically now as AR/VR applications are maturing to take advantage of them either for vanilla full body tracking or for realworld extension of the game space. I have on my desk a camera from OpenCV's Kickstarter that just finished shipping and they it got down to $150 [1]. Velodyne just released a $100 Lidar sensor which is not a camera but shows what is possible these days if your looking to add depth. [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opencv/opencv-ai-kit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opencv/opencv-ai-kit [2]https://velodynelidar.com/products/velabit/ https://velodynelidar.com/products/velabit/
- jimmySixDOF 5y ago
  After_Edit Correction: [1] Velodyne made "announcement" for 2022 release of Velabit, so its delayed by 2 years from their original pre-Covid target. [2] Also some mixed results getting the Kinect Dev Kit: https://github.com/microsoft/Azure-Kinect-Sensor-SDK/issues/1531 https://github.com/microsoft/Azure-Kinect-Sensor-SDK/issues/... Postscript: Kickstarter people's discussion on Movidius availability through 2028 and theory why RealSense was superseded : https://discuss.luxonis.com/d/293-intel-winding-down-realsense/6 https://discuss.luxonis.com/d/293-intel-winding-down-realsen...
paulkrush 5y ago
This sucks for those of us that have put a lot into RealSense. They were far more mature than what is on the market.
- ilaksh 5y ago
  What about the Stereolabs Zed cameras?
  - paulkrush 5y ago
    Realsense does all processing on the camera(on a ASIC). See this related discussion that has Zed issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28225065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28225065
paulkrush 5y ago
The RealSense modules were almost 1/2 the price of the cameras. The D450 module was a great price at $125 each with 3 global shutter cameras. The L515 Lidar was really accurate. This reminds me of how one by one the consumer cameras lost their API's, and how GoPro never bothered to give an API to developers. Velabit has been vaporware. Same with Microsoft kinect DK, they are now saying Oct 2022 for shipments. Oak AI uses Intel Movidius, and I just can't trust Intel after buying and basically killing Movidius, and now killing off Realsense. I have to look at the others.
- brutus1213 5y ago
  Are you sure Movidius was killed? I thought a bunch of dji drones use Intel's VPS (which I assumed was movidius).
  - paulkrush 5y ago
    Modvidius was not killed, it was throttled by Intel. They had a whole traditional computer vision side of the chip that they did not allow developers to get into, including stereo vision. Think OpenCV on a ASIC. Intel redefined "computer vision" to mean "Processes that can be run through a tensor engine and be integrated into OpenVino.
- porcc 5y ago
  IMO Lidar and FaceID on iPhones are the last bastion for consumer depth cameras. I pray that they won't go away and instead Lidar will end up on the non-pro variants.
- dendrite9 5y ago
  We looked at these for a customer project but decided based on Intel's past approach that by the time the project was ready for higher volume sales they might not be available. That project ended, but this isn't great to see.
freemint 5y ago
Wasn't this like a core technology for their mobileeye smart car cam solutions?

69 points by danboarder 5y ago

19h 5y ago

I wasn't even aware those cameras existed. How's it that companies keep killing products when they essentially invest zero into marketing them? Seems like they didn't even try .. The concept of the RealSense cameras seems really interesting, especially for building IoT projects that require a lidar or face detection for authentication etc.. At $249 and $369 they also seem really affordable for those projects... what a pity.

p_l 5y ago
RealSense was reasonably big in industrial solutions, either directly or as part of solutions from robotics vendors. I know of them from trying to optimize bin packing of items in transport racks :-)
belval 5y ago
I got an SR300 for 150$ CAD, really sad to see them shutdown, the product really felt high-quality at a price point that was not obscene for a 1080p camera + 480p depth sensor.

jimmySixDOF 5y ago

MS still has Azure Kinect (basically v3) which is integrated to the AR/Hololens ecosystem. There are so many advances every year in Computer Vision that make use of RGB-D so I hope the field will expand not contract - specifically now as AR/VR applications are maturing to take advantage of them either for vanilla full body tracking or for realworld extension of the game space. I have on my desk a camera from OpenCV's Kickstarter that just finished shipping and they it got down to $150 [1]. Velodyne just released a $100 Lidar sensor which is not a camera but shows what is possible these days if your looking to add depth. [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opencv/opencv-ai-kit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opencv/opencv-ai-kit [2]https://velodynelidar.com/products/velabit/ https://velodynelidar.com/products/velabit/

jimmySixDOF 5y ago
After_Edit Correction: [1] Velodyne made "announcement" for 2022 release of Velabit, so its delayed by 2 years from their original pre-Covid target. [2] Also some mixed results getting the Kinect Dev Kit: https://github.com/microsoft/Azure-Kinect-Sensor-SDK/issues/1531 https://github.com/microsoft/Azure-Kinect-Sensor-SDK/issues/... Postscript: Kickstarter people's discussion on Movidius availability through 2028 and theory why RealSense was superseded : https://discuss.luxonis.com/d/293-intel-winding-down-realsense/6 https://discuss.luxonis.com/d/293-intel-winding-down-realsen...

paulkrush 5y ago

This sucks for those of us that have put a lot into RealSense. They were far more mature than what is on the market.

ilaksh 5y ago
What about the Stereolabs Zed cameras?
- paulkrush 5y ago
  Realsense does all processing on the camera(on a ASIC). See this related discussion that has Zed issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28225065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28225065

paulkrush 5y ago

The RealSense modules were almost 1/2 the price of the cameras. The D450 module was a great price at $125 each with 3 global shutter cameras. The L515 Lidar was really accurate. This reminds me of how one by one the consumer cameras lost their API's, and how GoPro never bothered to give an API to developers. Velabit has been vaporware. Same with Microsoft kinect DK, they are now saying Oct 2022 for shipments. Oak AI uses Intel Movidius, and I just can't trust Intel after buying and basically killing Movidius, and now killing off Realsense. I have to look at the others.

brutus1213 5y ago
Are you sure Movidius was killed? I thought a bunch of dji drones use Intel's VPS (which I assumed was movidius).
- paulkrush 5y ago
  Modvidius was not killed, it was throttled by Intel. They had a whole traditional computer vision side of the chip that they did not allow developers to get into, including stereo vision. Think OpenCV on a ASIC. Intel redefined "computer vision" to mean "Processes that can be run through a tensor engine and be integrated into OpenVino.
porcc 5y ago
IMO Lidar and FaceID on iPhones are the last bastion for consumer depth cameras. I pray that they won't go away and instead Lidar will end up on the non-pro variants.
dendrite9 5y ago
We looked at these for a customer project but decided based on Intel's past approach that by the time the project was ready for higher volume sales they might not be available. That project ended, but this isn't great to see.

freemint 5y ago

Wasn't this like a core technology for their mobileeye smart car cam solutions?