Hi everybody,
OpenMV IDE v1.8.0 w/ OpenMV Cam firmware v2.6 is finally here! We've packed a lot of new features into the IDE and fixed a lot of usability bugs. It's now better than ever! Additionally, we also updated our firmware to v2.6 which features a massive MicroPython update from MicroPython v1.8.1 to v1.9.1. A lot of things were changed under the hood.
OpenMV IDE v1.8.0
Here's a list of new features in OpenMV IDE v1.8.0.
- Video Recording
- Want to show folks what you're doing with your OpenMV Cam easily? With the new video recording feature built-into OpenMV IDE you now can. Additionally, you can now convert .gif, .mjpeg, and .bin files your OpenMV Cam records to MP4 videos easily using the FFMPEG backend.
- Open Terminal via command line
- You can now launch terminals using OpenMV IDE from the command line. This features allows you to use OpenMV IDE for seeing what the camera sees without having to show anyone the code on the camera. You can launch as many terminals as you like and they remember their positions/state.
- Bug Fixes!
- You can now bind OpenMV IDE to python files and the IDE will open the files when you click on them. You can also drag and drop files into OpenMV IDE too.
- Better syntax highlighting! You shouldn't find any bugs with the syntax highlighting anymore. We've improved python code parsing and increased the number of methods with autocomplete and tool tip documentation.
- And even more minor bug fixes!
In general, the IDE feels a lot better!
Firmware v.2.6
The big update for firmware version 2.6 was the update to MicroPython v1.9.2. This brought in a massive amount of changes from v1.8.0. Luckily, Ibrahim was able to handle the massive upgrade! Anyway, on the OpenMV Cam software side we added a few things.
- Rotation Correction
- Need to get a bird's eye view of the scene? With rotation correction you can now fix any perspective correction issues on your OpenMV Cam in real time.
- LSD Line Segment Detection
- We're now using the LSD Line Segment Detection algorithm on the OpenMV Cam. This is the same algorithm used by OpenCV. It's much more stable than the previous line segment detection algorithm (but runs slower). Anyway, if you need to detect line segments with your OpenMV Cam it will do the job well!
Upcoming Features
For the next couple of months we're going to be focused on new features to the OpenMV Cam firmware which include WiFi programming! Getting the upgrade to MP v1.9.2 out of the way took a lot of work in redoing documentation, fixing parser bugs caused by new documentation, testing, etc. Now that we're done with that we can focus on adding more features. In particular, we're going to be adding:
- WiFi Programming
- All the code necessary for this in OpenMV IDE is now in place. We just have to add the feature to the OpenMV Cam firmware. In particular, I'm looking forward to this for Robo Car racing.
- REPL on UART3 on startup
- I've been getting requests from folks who'd like to use the OpenMV Cam as a co-processor. By allowing REPL to show up on UART3 on startup you'll be able to re-program your OpenMV Cam from another MCU at any time.
- Sensor updates!
- Folks have been repeatedly asking for more control of the camera sensor. So, we're going to give it to you. I'll be adding methods to control all useful auto functions of the OV7725 sensor chip.
- And less note worthy stuff like adaptive thresholding and faster mean/median/mode filters so you can actually use them in your scripts without too much performance loss.
Manufacturing
We're sold out of OpenMV Cam M7s again! 5K+ OpenMV Cam M7s have been sold to date! The project is really taking off! Anyway, we've managed to pay for the production of the next 2.5K OpenMV Cam M7s which will be in stock next year. In the mean time, you can still buy an OpenMV Cam M7 at SparkFun or one of our other distributors.
Accessories
We've finished production of 5K OpenMV Cam M7 cases and will have them for sale next year. We also plan to offer a new motor shield for DC motor control with your OpenMV Cam and a pan/tilt shield for pan and tilt servo control powered by a battery. Finally, we found some cool 25mm 8X optical zoom lenses that we'll stock too.
Shipping
As the OpenMV project has grown so has our shipping demands. Next year, we'll be moving to automatic shipping fulfillment using ShipBob. Since we're sold out of OpenMV Cam M7s right now we'll be focused on making this change in the background. That said, we're still shipping accessories from MacroFab for now.
Next Gen
A lot of folks have been asking us about the next generation OpenMV Cam. Well, we finally got samples of the STM32H7 in. Once we've ported our code to it and got everything working we'll post some updates about the improved performance!
Anyway, that's all folks!
