With the release of extremely powerful microcontrollers and development kits recently, artificial intelligence (AI) by way of neural networks is now within reach of keen programmers seeking a challenge beyond programming. “Homebrew AI” was long thought impossible but now the Jetson TX1 and TX2 are claimed by their maker NVIDIA “to put the power of an AI supercomputer in the palm of your hand.” A good $600 now buys you hardware capable of running fairly deep neural networks whilst offering support for the latest technology in graphics, GPU computing, computer vision and more.

The Jetson TX2 comes with NVIDIA’s Pascal™ architecture, which boasts 150 billion transistors built on 16 nanometer FinFET fabrication technology. In NVIDIA’s own words, “Pascal is the most powerful computer architecture ever built inside a GPU.” In techspeak:
  • HMP Dual Denver 2/2 MB L2 CPU and Quad ARM A57/2 BM L2 CPU
  • Encoded 4K video support at 60 Hz
  • 8 GB 128 bit memory at 59.7 GB/z
  • Camera serial interface lane support; serial expansion bus
  • 32 GB on board native data storage.

The TX2 Dev Kit now available through distributor Arrow supports the NVIDIA Jetpack SDK, which includes the BSP, libraries for deep learning, computer vision, GPU computing, multimedia processing, The TX2 comes pre-flashed with a Linux development environment. It also supports NVIDIA Jetpack — a complete SDK that includes the BSP, libraries for deep learning, computer vision, GPU computing, multimedia processing, and much more.