Qualcomm has announced the launch of a new Robotics RB3 platform, which is said to be the world’s first with 5G connectivity. The company has revealed that commercial products based on the Qualcomm Robotics RB5 platform are expected to be available in 2020.
The latest platform is powered by a Qualcomm QRB5165 processor, which is customised for robotics applications. It is loaded with 5th generation Qualcomm AI Engine with 15 tera operations per second (TOPS). The Processor also offers machine learning (ML) inferencing using the new Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator (HTA), an image signal processor (ISP) with support for seven concurrent cameras, and a dedicated computer vision engine for enhanced video analytics (EVA). The ISP can capture photos and videos and can process 2 gigapixels per second. It also features 8K video recording and 200-megapixel photos.
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The company has also revealed Qualcomm Robotics RB5 Development Kit. Developers have flexible software capabilities, with the platform offering support for Linux, Ubuntu and Robot Operating System (ROS) 2.0, as well as pre-integrated drivers for various cameras, Sensors and 5G connectivity. It also provides support for OpenCL, OpenGLES and OpenCV. Additionally, the Qualcomm Robotics RB5 Development Kit includes support for the Intel RealSense Depth Camera D435i and Panasonic TOF Camera to provide leading depth-sensing capabilities.
The robotics platform also comes with the Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit that it is designed to offer security without compromising power. The unit includes secure boot, cryptographic accelerators, Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and camera security and is FIPS 140-2 certified.
Additional security features include key provisioning security, malware protection, Qualcomm Content Protection, Qualcomm Mobile Security, Qualcomm Processor Security, and secure token to support remote attestation and secure device provisioning. The Qualcomm Robotics RB5 platform supports long-range Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1, and 4G and 5G, providing the highest level of connectivity available.