Meet the Person Sensor from Useful Sensors!
We are happy to announce the newest Machine Learning tool from Pete Warden, the Person Sensor!
Hello and happy Wednesday, all! We interrupt your normal mid-week shenanigans for a special announcement that we are very pleased to share. A few years ago, our close friend, Pete Warden helped us release our first Machine Learning board, the SparkFun Edge. The gave us a path to develop and produce our SparkFun Artemis microcontroller. Now, Pete has been working on something new, and we are happy to announce it, today, on our site! Meet the Person Sensor by Useful Sensors!
The Person Sensor from Useful Sensors Inc. includes a camera module pre-programmed with algorithms that detect nearby faces, and return information over a simple Qwiic I2C interface. It is designed to be used as an input to a larger system and be treated like any other sensor where power and information are provided through SparkFun's Qwiic I2C interface. There’s also a separate interrupt pin, TP1, which is used to indicate if any people have been detected.
Internally the Person Sensor bundles an image sensor and a small microcontroller into a single board. It is a small, low power (~150 milliwatts), and economical hardware module that is capable of detecting nearby faces and returning information about how many there are, where they are relative to the device, and performs facial recognition. This makes it easy to build projects that wake up when people approach, follow their faces, mute a microphone when nobody is present, and even recognize different people to personalize their experiences. The Person Sensor is designed to be a simple way to build smarter devices.
On top of this new Sensor, Pete Warden and a few fellows have set out to create an all new company, Useful Sensors Inc. which is focused on using the recent advances in AI and machine learning to improve peoples’ everyday lives through smarter interfaces. Founded in March 2022, They look forward to a future where you can look at a light switch and say “On” to light up a room, where the TV automatically pauses when you get up from the couch for a coffee, and where you can advance your slide presentation with a wave of your hand. Make sure to learn more about this amazing company and its founding members here!
If you want to learn more about the Person Sensor, please be sure to check out the Developer Guide for the board as well as one of the demo videos that Pete Warden made! You can also check out any of these examples for the board:
- Auto-Lock your Laptop Screen with a Person Sensor
- Person Sensor Screen Locker
- Person Sensor with Pico C
- Person Sensor with Arduino
- Person Sensor with Raspberry Pi & Python
- Person Sensor with Circuit Python
If you want to learn more about Machine Learning and AI, we have plenty of resources available, including a fantastic first step explanation. Other wise, please enjoy this brand new sensor and we'll see you back here next time!
