I'm brand new to Raspberry Pi and I'm not sure if the Pi Zero is sufficient for something I'm trying to do (I want to use Pi Zero since cost is my main concern). I've been searching through the forums, Stack, and other websites online, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer, which is what brings me to ask here!
Basically, I have a bird feeder that I would like to monitor using Raspberry Pi. What I want it to do is take 1 photo every 1 minute (or couple minutes), analyze that photo using a Tensorflow model, and if it detects a bird, an LED should light up. If it detects a squirrel or any other animal, nothing should happen (since the Tensorflow model doesn't detect squirrels anyway).
I don't want to do the image analysis on the cloud or on another place - I want to do it right on the Raspberry Pi Zero without needing any additional hardware or connections (except maybe an SD card for additional storage).
I have a Tensorflow model (200MB size file) for detecting a bird in an image. I know these microcomputers use Tensorflow Lite, so I'll be sure to use Tensorflow Lite.
I know that this is a simple and easy problem using one of the larger Raspberry Pi models, but cost is my main issue (because I plan to purchase many Pi's for similar uses). I saw that the Raspberry Pi Zero is $5, which is why I was thinking of using it! I haven't purchased any, so I'd like to know if it's capable of accomplishing this task.
I've read a bunch of things online about using the Zero for tasks similar to this (such as face detection), but I don't think any examples used Tensorflow Lite, so I don't know if the Zero can handle this goal.
So all-in-all, I just want to know if a Pi Zero would be able to run a Tensorflow Lite model on-board without additional hardware (except SD card and camera) and without the cloud. I don't need any fancy features, and I'm not looking to do something resource-intensive with it (such as analyzing videos or real-time computer vision); it just needs to be able to take a photo, process/analyze that 1 photo (using Tensorflow model... like YOLO) within 1 minute (or couple... performance isn't important), and light up an LED.
I'd greatly appreciate it if someone who actually has a Pi Zero tried it out, so that answers are not just speculations; I would, but I don't have one, unfortunately.