DFRobot FireBeetle 2 ESP32-P4 AI Vision Board

Overview

The DFRobot FireBeetle 2 ESP32-P4 AI Vision Board (SKU: DFR1172) is the standalone board version of DFRobot's ESP32-P4 platform, priced at $11.90 without the IO expansion board included in the DFR1237 kit. It packs Espressif's most capable MCU -- the ESP32-P4 with dual-core RISC-V at 360MHz, single-precision FPU, and AI extensions -- into the familiar FireBeetle 2 form factor at 25.4 x 60mm.

The board's standout feature is its integrated media pipeline: hardware-accelerated H.264 and JPEG encoding capable of 1080p output, a built-in Image Signal Processor (ISP), and PPA graphics accelerator. MIPI CSI (2-lane) and MIPI DSI (2-lane) connectors use Raspberry Pi-compatible interfaces, allowing direct connection of standard RPi cameras and displays. An onboard PDM microphone enables voice and audio applications.

Wireless connectivity is handled by a companion ESP32-C6 coprocessor providing WiFi 6 (802.11ax at 2.4GHz) and Bluetooth 5 LE, leaving the P4's dual cores fully available for media processing and AI inference. The board exposes 24 digital I/O pins with rich peripheral multiplexing: 5 UARTs, 2 I2C, 3 I2S, 2 SPI, 7-channel 12-bit ADC, 4 touch channels, 8 PWM channels, and IR transmit/receive. A TF card slot provides expandable storage for video recording and data logging.