Featuring Arduino Nicla Voice with Speech Recognition, BL5.0 and Much More

Recently, Arduino has introduced a small, low-power integrated module with AI capabilities. Syntiant NDP120 processor designed for Deep Learning applications and ANNA-B112 u-Blox module for wireless communication forms the basis of the Arduino Nicla Voice. The Nicla Voice, much like the recently highlighted Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2, features an ANNA-B112 module built on the Nordic nRF52 SoC series and a Syntiant Neural Decision Processor.

One Syntiant Core 2 U-LP deep neural network inference engine, one Tensilica HiFi 3 Audio DSP, and one Arm Cortex M0 (up to 48MHz), 48KB of static random access memory (SRAM) are all included in the Syntiant NDP120.

The nRF52832 features an Arm Cortex M4 processor (up to 64 MHz), 64KB of SRAM, and 512KB of Flash-mapped FIFOs. Further, it has a 12-bit/200 ksps ADC, 2.4-2.4835 GHz BL 5.0 (through the ARM Cordio stack), and 4.2 (via ArduinoBLE). Not only that but there’s also a 32MHz oscillator on the inside and a 1.8V power supply.

NDP120 block diagram

ANNA B112 block diagram

This datasheet clearly states that  NDP120 supports “concurrent neural networks, 2D convolution, depth-wise convolution, the recurrent neural network including LSTM and GRU, average and max pooling”.

According to Hackster.io, the Arduino Nicla Voice will cost about $82. To sign up for the waiting list, look at the product announcement. On the Hardware page for the Arduino Nicla Voice, you can find the datasheet, libraries, schematics, STEP files, and other guides.

Arduino Nicla Voice pinout

It appears that the Nicla Voice, like the Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2, uses IMUs manufactured by BOSCH. These IMUs consist of a 6-axis gyroscope (BMI270) and a 3-axis accelerometer (BMM150).

Arduino talks about its ability to recognize speech,

“the Nicla Voice speeds up the tempo of product development, whether your launch requires solutions that use voice to play music, make phone calls or pull up the blinds. It makes devices smarter by allowing for multiple wake words, replacing buttons users struggle with, and helping designers integrate unobtrusive voice-command systems into stylish accessories”.

The Arduino Nicla Voice has a list of specs, such as 16 MB SPI Flash storage, BLE 5.0, and Bluetooth mesh connectivity. I/O Interfaces are done through GPIOs 1.8V/3.3V, 10x Digital I/Os, 12x PWM pins, 1x I2C bus (with ESLOV connector), 1x UART, 1x SPI, and 2x ADC. The 6-Axis IMU (BMI270) and 3-Axis IMU (BMM150), 1x Digital MEMS Microphone (IM69D130), and 1x RGB LED are some of the other features. The USB is a Micro-B port. The temperature range is 0°C to 70°C. It gets its power from a 3.3V USB-B Micro port, a 3.7V Li-Po battery, and a JST connector. The size and weight are both 22.86 x 22.86 mm and 2g.

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