I would like to add a USB camera to my robot project. Because it’s a telepresence robot, I need a camera that I can grab the video (and audio, if available) and, using .NET (visual studio code), send out the video to another computer. It would be nice for the camera to have zoom capabilities, too, but the zoom would also have to be capable of activation via .NET code. Currently, I’m not using any microcontroller board, as I just use a motor controller board for the wheels. Any suggestions?
Hello @swabygw and welcome to the RobotShop community,
I assume that by sending the video to another computer you mean doing it wirelessly, unfortunately, for a camera to be able to send information in this way it must be “smart”, meaning that it already has a microcontroller. Most of the smart cameras available on the market are for security and already have applications to control them, for example, this one:
The problem with this is that you cannot control it via .NET, the best option would be to acquire a camera module and an SCB such as Raspberry Pi or Latte Panda so that you can develop the control method yourself via .NET code. As you mentioned zoom capabilities you may want to look for PTZ cameras.
I hope this information can help you out!
Thanks – will the Arducam PTZ cameras connect to the LattePanda (or Arduino) from the ribbon connector from the camera module, or just to Raspberry Pi?
No, they only connect to the Raspberry Pi with the ribbon connector, but for the LattePanda you could use a USB Camera Shield, for the Arduino you would need a different camera module.