Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: Joker94 on May 30, 2009, 06:45:43 AM

Title: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: Joker94 on May 30, 2009, 06:45:43 AM

Would i be able to build a circuit to connect a standered WebCam to my robot

The Reason being is that i want to trial a camera on my robot and if it all works out buy a properobot cam,This is just for testing and  budget

Title: Re: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: SmAsH on May 30, 2009, 06:57:42 AM

yes it is possible...
but you will need to make/buy a circuit that has the processing power to process the video/image.
most people use a laptop for this
but why not just buy a blackfin?

Title: Re: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: Joker94 on May 31, 2009, 04:35:13 AM

That is a good point but at this stage i am keepng my options open

Dose any one know of any good shematics that would be suitable

Title: Re: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: SmAsH on May 31, 2009, 04:39:00 AM

to do what? anyone can connect a webcam to a robot ::) (well, not really...)
but, different circuits will give different results...
some are better than others for certain purposes.
but one things for sure, camera processing requires big @$$ electronics...
what do you want yours to do?
check out http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_faq.shtml#camera_microcontroller (http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_faq.shtml#camera_microcontroller)
i really recommend the blackfin as admin and others have info and code on the site that will help you get off the ground.
but as i said, blackfin is almost plug'n'play as it does the processing for you.
most microcontrollers cannot handle this feat and this is why most people use an onboard laptop
for this kind of stuff.

Title: Re: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: Joker94 on May 31, 2009, 05:51:12 AM

I supose i should just go for the blackfin, thanks for your opinion smash

Title: Re: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: SmAsH on May 31, 2009, 05:54:11 AM

for ease of use yes.
the amount of time you would likely spend smashing your head against the wall trying to figure out what
went wrong with your webcam setup is just not worth it.
for some extra reading you may want to check out the vision tutorials on the main site.
http://www.societyofrobots.com/programming_computer_vision_tutorial.shtml (http://www.societyofrobots.com/programming_computer_vision_tutorial.shtml)
best of luck with your camera ideas ;D

Title: Re: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: sonictj on May 31, 2009, 07:10:02 AM

You could also pick up a wireless webcam that you could communicate with via a pc off the robot.  However you will find this will probably be the most expensive option.  You will not only need a camera but a bluetooth or xbee module to communicate  with your computer.  The advantage is the power of a pc.  You are likley to spend ~300 going this route compared to $200 for a blackfin.  Even though I myself bought a blackfin I would suggest looking into the cmu camera too. 

Title: Re: Would it be possible to use a WebCam on my robot
Post by: SmAsH on May 31, 2009, 02:19:56 PM

the most common cams that are well known for robotics use are: blackfin, cmucam and avrcam.
they are your primary options for cams with onboard processing.
this thread has a bit of info http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=5064.0 (http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=5064.0)
you could in theory have a webcam on your robot send data to your pc which then processes it through
roborealm and then sends data back to your robot but that's kinda ugh...complicated.