Mosaic SoC is developing what it calls perception chips that bring spatial intelligence to energy-constrained devices.
The company is seeking to solve the issue of offering real-time perception while keeping semiconductors in a small power window. Smartphone cameras and augmented reality (AR) glasses have always-on computer vision and AI but the application processors are too power hungry to offer real-time perception, Mosaic SoC said.
The company raised $3.8 million to develop ICs that feature real-time spatial intelligence for consumer devices that use minimal power. This includes:
- AR glasses
- Smartphone cameras
- Wearables
- Other internet-connected devices
“Spatial intelligence shouldn’t require an application-class processor and a GPU,” said Alfio Di Mauro, CEO and co-founder of Mosaic SoC. “We built Mosaic SoC to deliver real-time perception at a fraction of the energy, so battery-powered devices can understand their environment without compromising form factor.”
Real-time understanding
The integrated circuits that Mosaic SoC is developing process visual and positional sensor data to allow devices a real-time understanding of the environment around them. Mosaic SoC called it turning space into signals.
The ICs are designed to be tiny and efficient so that smart glasses, for example, would look exactly like regular glasses but would feature full spatial awareness. The company claims this type of form factor with this feature is not viable with current processors.
The Mosaic SoC chip allows devices to build local maps of its surroundings and objects inside the environment. The consumer devices then can recall where an item was last seen or generate floorplans on the fly. In smartphones, the IC acts as a co-processor for the front camera for always-on tracking and classification at low-power or draining the battery.
