The pictured camera is a cmucam2+ which is slightly different from the cmucam2. I’m not sure about the cmucam3 mount. Jim will likely productize one or more of the carriers depending on demand. As far as I know he only made a few so far for prototyping. I’m sure Jim will fill us in when he reads this.
Mark
I seem to remember that the CMUCAM2+ is a little different PCB then the CMUCAM2.
I’d like to see LM offer the 2 or 3.
Alan KM6VV
Nice tutorial. Now to see on how I can adopt it to work with my tri-track. 
Well the CMUcam thing is an issue.
Acroname tells me they do not know if they will make another batch of the CMUcam2+ stating problem sourcing cameras and camera chips. Not sure how many they currently have in stock. But it’s less than 100. They also tell me if they did it again they would likely make their own code instead of using the “dated” CMU version.
Seattle Robotics tells me they are out of the CMUcam2, but should have them in a few weeks. They tell me the CMUcam2 will go EOL (end of life) soon and recommends the CMUcam3. We have exchanged several emails and I attempted several phone calls, but we have not been able to connect yet. Eventually I will get me some of them thar CMUcams from them and we will update the tutorial to use them.
CMUcam holders. We are adding a version for all three CMUcams currently available. This is a relatively easy project so we should be able to get them done pretty quickly. For now people can fabricate their own.
As for us carrying the cameras. Acroname is a dead end. I do not know if there is enough margin from Seattle Robotics to enable me to actually carry them. We have distributors which really complicates matters. Some items would make no sense for me to carry if my discount from the mfg is the same as my distributors expect.
Hope this helps…
It is not a product at the moment, but it will be soon. I didn’t know that the CMUcam3 had a different footprint, so I’ll do a slight redesign sometime today so it will fit both cameras.
Uh… Just set it up the same way. The tri-track controls the same way as the A4WD1 rover.
Is it possible that Lynxmotion can develop a new design? If so, then any new design should have the camera connected to the board via a cable instead of directly on the board. This would allow the board to be mounted flat on the chassis and the camera free to be mounted anyplace on the robot, and with the camera free from the board, the size is reduced down to just the camera body. I understand I might be wasting my time throwing all this out there, but I never liked the idea of the camera mounted on the board so you have to mount this big bulky thing on the bot.
Well it’s not that simple. The camera is accessed digitally by the control microcontroller via a parallel interface. So the cable would be a ribbon cable and the length would need to be kept to a minimum if it would even work at all.
I think the Blackfin camera has the ability you want. From the picture, it looks like the camera could be cabled to the board rather than connected directly as pictured.
http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/bfboards1.jpg
I think this camera may actually be less expensive than the later CMUCams too. It would provide more processing power as well, since it uses a Blackfin processor. It’s all Open Source software too! 
8-Dale
Thanks for the info…I will definetly look into it!
Mark
Wow, great find! looks like a flat ribbon or even grouped wires would work for this. Nylon sleeving could be used with a cable like this:
Yes…the Blackfin definetly looks interesting and has the capabilities we need. Especially the Low Light NTSC version. I didn’t have a chance to read enough about how one might interface with a Basic Atom Pro.
On the other hand…I’m having really great sucess with the CMUcam2+!!!
I now have X-BRAT targeting acuratly from a few inches from the guns to about 10 feet out!
Mark
By the way…Jim made a couple of prototype CMUcam2+ lexan mounts and they work fabulous. He will productize soon but we need to make sure that the mount will be universal and accept the CMUcam2+ as well as the CMUcam2 and CMUcam3’s. It is surpisingly hard to get the mounting hole specifications for the 2 and the 3.
Mark
Any more updates?
My buddy has a CMUcam3 so I will ask him for the dimensions, but we don’t know anyone who has a cmucam2. I think the 2 and the 3 are the same but looking for anyone to confirm.
Mark
Finally heard from Seattle Robotics. The 2 and the 3 share the same mounting holes. They are sending me one of the 3’s for our tutorial work, then the builder can use either one.
Perfect…then you will know for sure how to make a mount that accepts the 2,2+, and 3 versions. Hopefully they are all the same!
Mark
This is pretty sweet.
Was there a final draft of the document/tutorial, or did I miss the link in this thread somewhere?
