Renesas Electronics (TSE: 6723), a global semiconductor solutions provider, today announced the launch of a new product for high-performance robotics applications, the RZ/V2H, further expanding its popular RZ product family of microprocessors (MPUs). The RZ/V2H delivers the highest level of performance in the product family, enabling visual AI and real-time control.

The RZ/V2H is equipped with Renesas’ new proprietary AI accelerator DRP-AI3 (Dynamically Configurable Processors-AI3), which delivers 10TOPS/W of energy efficiency, up to 10 times more than earlier models. In addition, the pruning technology adopted by the DRP-AI3 accelerator significantly enhanced the AI computational efficiency, increasing the AI inference performance to 80TOPS. This performance boost enables engineers to handle visual AI applications directly on edge AI devices without relying on cloud computing platforms. Details of the new DRP-AI3 acceleration technology were recently announced at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference 1769-L31  (ISSCC 2024) in San Francisco, USA.

The RZ/V2H integrates four Arm® Cortex-A55 CPU cores operating at a maximum frequency of 1.8GHz for Linux application processing, two Cortex-R8 cores operating at 800MHz for high-performance real-time processing, and a Cortex-M33 subkernel. By integrating these cores into a single chip, the product effectively manages visual AI and real-time control tasks, making it ideal for future demanding robotics applications. The RZ/V2H’s lower power consumption eliminates the need for cooling fans and other cooling elements, allowing engineers to design smaller, less costly and more reliable systems.

Daryl Khoo, Vice President of the Embedded Processing 1st Division at Renesas said: “As a preeminent supplier of microprocessors for motor control, Renesas is well positioned to take on the next challenge of leveraging AI technology to advance the robotics market. RZ/V2H will 1769-L31 facilitate the development of the next generation of autonomous robots with visual AI capabilities, independent thinking and real-time action control.”

1769-L31

OpenCV is an open source industry standard library for computer vision processing. In this regard, Renesas has developed an OpenCV accelerator using its proprietary DRP technology to speed up OpenCV 1769-L31 processing. Up to 16 times faster than CPU processing. The combination of DRP-AI3 and OpenCV accelerators enhances AI computing and image processing algorithms, enabling efficient and real-time execution of virtual SLAM technologies used in applications such as robotic vacuum cleaners.

To accelerate development, Renesas also released “AI Applications” (a library of pre-trained models for various cases) and an AI SDK (software development kit) for rapid AI application development. By running these software on RZ/V2H’s evaluation board, engineers can easily evaluate AI applications at an early stage of the design process, even if they don’t have extensive AI knowledge.

Rolf Segger, founder of SEGGER Microcontroller GmbH, said: “We are delighted to be involved in the launch of RZ/V2H, which combines artificial intelligence technology with real-time control. SEGGER’s J-Link debugger, which is widely used in embedded development projects around 1769-L31 the world, will provide the support RZ/V2H needs to help accelerate the next generation of robotics innovation. We look forward to building on our decades-long relationship with Renesas.”

Successful product portfolio

Renesas has developed a “vision detection single board computer” that uses camera images to recognize the surrounding environment and determine and control its movement in real time. The solution combines the RZ/V2H with a power management IC and VersaClock programmable clock generator to support energy-efficient industrial robots and devices. This efficient design eliminates the need for additional cooling fans, reducing the BOM and size of the solution. These “winning portfolios” are based on products that are compatible and work together seamlessly, with a technologically proven system architecture that results in optimized, low-risk designs to accelerate time to market. Renesas now offers more than 400 “Portfolio Successes” based on the various products in its product lineup, enabling customers to accelerate the design process and bring products to market faster.