STMicroelectronics (ST) announced that it is providing STM32 microcontrollers for 'Anki Drive™', the first product of Anki, Inc., a startup developing robotics and artificial intelligence technology. Anki Drive allows users to download an app to compatible iOS devices and enjoy racing by interacting with intelligent robot minicars.

Anki Drive's minicar receives data from race track data and analyzes it 500 times per second. The performance and processing power of ST's STM32 microcontroller enables real-time response of Anki Drive's minicar, which is equipped with optical sensors, wireless chips, motors, and over 20,000 lines of code. In addition, this ARM® Cortex™ M-based STM32 microcontroller provides excellent power efficiency, enabling a perfect balance between functionality and battery life when using Anki drives.

"The reason the STM32 microcontroller was adopted is its computational power, footprint, and peripheral portfolio," said Hanns Tappeiner, co-founder and president of Anki. "In other words, the STM32's ability to process data quickly and highly integrated peripherals like general-purpose DMA demonstrate that this product is an excellent microcontroller for the Anki Drive minicar."

Claude Dardanne, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Microcontrollers, Memory, and Security MCUs at ST, said, "Anki has clearly demonstrated through its demonstrations what the highest level of integration between artificial intelligence and robotics technology looks like in the consumer market, and I am very proud that STM32 microcontrollers have become part of Anki's future vision, featuring an efficient and well-designed architecture, DMA, and a rich set of peripherals." He added, "We believe Anki Drives are products that create a new category, and these products will continue to inspire the creation of various innovative applications that combine artificial intelligence with world-class microcontroller technology."