Discontinuation of Base AI models and changes in Vision and Sensing Application data processing methods

June 28, 2023

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation

We are making important service changes in the next release of AITRIOS | Console Developer Edition after mid-July, 2023.

There will be two major changes that might affect you as described below.

  • Base AI models for Human Detection (Object Detection) and Hand Gesture Recognition (Classification) will be discontinued and will no longer be available.
  • Vision and Sensing Application data processing methods will be changed.

These changes are described below.

Discontinuation of Base AI models for Human Detection (Object Detection) and Hand Gesture Recognition (Classification)

With the next update scheduled for after mid-July, 2023, the two Base AI models for Human Detection (Object Detection) and Hand Gesture Recognition (Classification), and the sample AI model (Human Detection v1.0.0) will be discontinued.

After they are discontinued, the following will stop working:

  • You will no longer be able to select Human Detection (Object Detection) or Hand Gesture Recognition (Classification) from the Create model menu or Train model menu in Console.
  • Any models generated with Human Detection (Object Detection) or Hand Gesture Recognition (Classification) will be deleted from the Create model menu and Train model menu in Console¹. You will not be able to re-train these models.
  • Any models generated with Human Detection (Object Detection) or Hand Gesture Recognition (Classification) will be deleted from the Deploy to device menu in Console¹. You will not be able to deploy these models to your edge AI device(s)² ³.

¹ We will remove models generated with Human Detection (Object Detection) and Hand Gesture Recognition (Classification) models together with the Console update after mid-July. Please note that these models are not available for download.
² Models deployed to edge AI device(s) will continue to run on the device(s), but it will not be possible to retrain them.
³ A new feature to replace or remove specific AI models from edge AI device(s) will be introduced with the Console update. Details will be provided in the release note.

There is no change to the CustomVision-ObjectDetection model and it will continue to be supported. Please use this to create Object Detection AI models.

For Classification AI models, use the tflite model import feature. We introduced a new feature to import tflite models from your local computer (Local Import) in the last Console update on 8 June 2023.

We plan to add new training tools in later releases.

Changes in Vision and Sensing Application data processing methods

The new version of the edge AI device firmware, released with the Console update after mid-July, allows development of Vision and Sensing Applications with greater flexibility.

APIs were executed at the device firmware timing in the previous edge AI device firmware. The new firmware allows the application to control API timing, which makes analysis of the inference data and transmission of the analysis results more flexible.

  • Event-driven processing
    • You can write applications that detect certain events from sensor inference results and only send inference results to the cloud when that event is detected, for example, only when a target object is detected.
  • Analysis of sensor inference results across multiple frames
    • The new firmware allows applications to analyze sensor inference results from multiple frames and send only the relevant results. Previously, applications could only process a single frame sensor inference result.
  • Application data output timing decoupled from sensor timing
    • Previously, applications could only analyze the sensor inference data and output it to the cloud at the sensor timing. With the new firmware, applications can send results asynchronously with the sensor timing.

Note: The current Vision and Sensing Application (PPL) will not be compatible with the new edge AI device firmware released with the Console update. It will continue to be compatible with previously released edge AI device firmware versions4,5.

4 The current edge AI device firmware, as of June 2023 is: https://developer.aitrios.sony-semicon.com/file/download/szp123s-001_20230329_00

5 Correction: In the next service renewal, scheduled after December 2023, we will discontinue support for the inference function with edge AI device firmware versions released before August 23, 2023. As a result of this, the old Vision and Sensing Application (PPL) will also no longer work. (October 26, 2023)

Support for the current Vision and Sensing Application (PPL) deployment will end after mid-October, 2023. After that, we will no longer fix bugs in it or make it compatible with newer edge AI device firmware. Please update your Vision and Sensing Application (PPL) as soon as possible to the new version provided after mid-July, 2023.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding.