Intel to acquire Movidius for RealSense platform expansion

By acquiring Movidius, Intel hopes to utilize the company’s low-power SoCs to insert RealSense into as many devices as possible.  Image Movidius

It would seem that SoftBank is not the only company into the market for microchip-makers. Intel just announced it is acquiring computer vision startup Movidius.

Movidius is the company behind Google’s Project Tango 3D-sensor technology. It would seem that Intel wants to incorporate Movidius’ computer vision technology into its own RealSense platform. Movidius, on the other hand, will continue to work toward its goal of giving “the power of sight to machines,” reports Tech Crunch.

The low-powered computer vision chipset created by Movidius has garnered a lot of attention from major device makers such as DJI, Google and Lenovo. Their Myriad 2 family of Vision Processor Units are currently being utilized by Lenovo for its next-generation virtual reality products.

At the recent IDF developers’ conference, Intel also made some significant announcements regarding its depth-sensing RealSense and virtual reality Project Alloy platform. It also talked about upgrades to autonomous drone piloting systems and other initiatives linked to enhancing computer vision in enterprise as well as consumer products.

Essentially Intel wants RealSense in as many devices as possible and with the help of Movidius’ sub-1 Watt power SoC, this could be entirely possible.  Alfred Bayle