Amazon DeepLens Now Available for Purchase – Order Yours Today!

Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner

Amazon DeepLens is a cutting-edge video camera equipped to run deep learning models directly on the device, enabling real-time applications in the field. Here’s a brief overview of its features:

Hardware

4-megapixel camera (1080P video), a 2D microphone array, Intel Atom® Processor, dual-band Wi-Fi, USB and micro HDMI ports, plus 8 GB of memory for models and code.

Software

Ubuntu 16.04, Amazon Greengrass Core, device-optimized versions of MXNet and the Intel® clDNN library, along with support for other deep learning frameworks.

The response to this year’s Amazon IXD – VGT2 event was overwhelmingly positive! Educators, students, and developers eagerly engaged in hands-on sessions, starting to build and train models immediately. Their enthusiasm has continued throughout the year, especially during Amazon’s Summit season, where we worked hard to provide access to devices, tools, and training.

Hackathons and Challenges

We made DeepLens devices available to participants in last month’s HackTillDawn. I had the pleasure of attending the event and assisting in selecting the top three winners. It was inspiring to see teams, many of whom had no prior experience in machine learning or computer vision, create innovative applications aimed at enhancing the attendee experience at large-scale music festivals. The three winners then competed at EDC Vegas, with the Grand Prize awarded to the “Find Your Totem” team. Congratulations to them, and enjoy your time at EDC Orlando!

We also hosted the Amazon DeepLens Challenge, encouraging participants to develop machine learning projects utilizing DeepLens, with bonus points for incorporating Amazon SageMaker and/or AWS Lambda. The submissions were diverse and intriguing, featuring applications designed for various audiences, including children and pets. You can find details about all the submissions, including demo videos and source code, on our Community Projects page. The winning applications included “ReadToMe” (first place), “Dee” (second place), and “SafeHaven” (third place).

From what I gather, DeepLens has demonstrated its value as a powerful learning tool. Conversations with attendees at HackTillDawn revealed their eagerness to gain practical experience to enhance their skillsets and advance their careers.

Preview Updates

During the preview phase, the DeepLens team focused on enhancing the device’s capabilities. Significant updates include:

• Gluon Support – Users can now build computer vision models using Gluon (an imperative interface to MXNet), which can be trained, imported to DeepLens, and deployed.
• SageMaker Import – Models built and trained in Amazon SageMaker can now be imported directly into DeepLens.
• Model Optimizer – This optimizer runs on the device to ensure that downloaded MXNet models operate efficiently on the DeepLens GPU.

Now Shipping

I am thrilled to announce that DeepLens is officially shipping and available for order from Amazon.com. You can start building your deep learning applications within days. Devices can be shipped to U.S. addresses, with more locations coming soon.

We are also enhancing the initial feature set with new capabilities:

• Expanded Framework Support – DeepLens now includes support for TensorFlow and Caffe frameworks.
• Expanded MXNet Layer Support – The device now supports Deconvolution, L2Normalization, and LRN layers provided by MXNet.
• Kinesis Video Streams – The video feed from the DeepLens camera can now be integrated with Amazon Kinesis Video Streams. You can stream the raw camera feed to the cloud and use Amazon Rekognition Video to analyze the video for objects, faces, and other content.
• New Sample Project – A new sample project for head pose detection powered by TensorFlow is now included. This project serves as a valuable resource for understanding model construction.

I eagerly anticipate seeing the amazing projects you will create with your own DeepLens. Feel free to reach out and share your experiences!

— Chanci Turner

For further engagement, check out this letter from our CEO. Also, if you’re interested in understanding what former employees are saying, SHRM offers authoritative insights on this topic. Additionally, for a firsthand account of the onboarding experience, this Reddit thread is an excellent resource: My Amazon Flex Onboarding Process.