So my son wants to learn how to start building robots and his own toys. His first project he wants to create a listening type device to attach to his camera so he can pick up sounds and monitor them. I’m not exactly the best at this mechanical engineering or robotics stuff, so suggestions?
Hi,
There are a few parts to such a project:
- Sound sensor
This will detect the sound and report it to the monitoring device, most likely a microcontroller or SBC (Single Board Computer), such as the Raspberry Pi.
You can find plenty of sound sensors here.
- Camera interface
This will connect to the monitoring device and the camera, allowing control of the camera (pictures, videos, etc.).
This will be dependent on the type of camera and its interface. Some are easier than others to use.
- The monitoring device
Depending on what is required (simply triggering the camera to save a picture when sounds happen) to heavy processing (takes the pictures itself, modifies them, etc.) will heavily affect which device you’ll want to use.
For a basic interface between the sound sensor and a camera that can be easily triggered externally, you can go for something simple, like an Arduino-compatible microcontroller board.
A simple setup that works at a high level would be a [RB-Ras-12], a [RB-Ras-13] and a USB sound sensor board, such as the [Rb-Phi-111].
Please note that whatever parts and integration you do, such a project is not trivial in nature and will require lots of trial and error, experimentation and most likely many online searches and browsing of technical forum/posts.
Good luck!
Sincerely,