Raspberry Pi vs. Google Coral Dev Board - Which Single Board Computer has Better Edge AI Ability?
If you're into edge AI development, you've probably heard of Rassberry Pi and Google Coral Dev Board, the most popular single-board computers in the market. Both SBCs are great for machine learning and computer vision projects, but which one is better? In this article, we'll compare Raspberry Pi and Google Coral Dev Board in terms of their edge AI abilities, and hopefully, help you decide which one to choose.
Performance
When it comes to performance, the Google Coral Dev Board is a clear winner. It has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU running at 1.5GHz and an integrated Edge TPU coprocessor with 4 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of machine learning inference. Raspberry Pi, on the other hand, has a Broadcom BCM2711, quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC which runs at 1.5 GHz, coupled with 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB of LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM. While the Raspberry Pi is still powerful, it's not optimized for edge AI computing like the Google Coral Dev Board.
Winner: Google Coral Dev Board
Power Consumption
Since edge devices run on batteries, power consumption is a crucial factor to consider. Raspberry Pi has a moderate power consumption rate of 3.5W, while the Google Coral Dev Board consumes an average of 4W. This may seem like a small difference, but when it comes to battery life, every watt counts.
Winner: Raspberry Pi
Software and Development Environment
Both Raspberry Pi and Google Coral Dev Board comes with pre-installed software libraries for machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, Caffe, and OpenCV. Additionally, both SBCs support popular programming languages like Python, C++, and Java. However, developers find the Google Coral Dev Board's Edge TPU API and its containerization support more developer-friendly than Raspberry Pi.
Winner: Google Coral Dev Board
Cost
Let's face it, the cost is always a significant factor in choosing any device. Raspberry Pi provides a range of products under different price options, from $5 to $75. On the other hand, Google Coral Dev Board costs around $150, which is significantly higher.
Winner: Raspberry Pi
Conclusion
Both Raspberry Pi and Google Coral Dev Board are excellent SBCs with their pros and cons. If you're looking for a budget-friendly device that can still perform edge AI computing, Raspberry Pi is the way to go. But if you need optimal performance and faster inference rate, then Google Coral Dev Board is your go-to device. It's all about your edge AI project requirements and your budget!
References
- "Raspberry Pi 4 Model B." Raspberry Pi, https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/
- "Coral Dev Board." Coral, https://coral.ai/products/dev-board/