6 replies to this topic

[Irishgreen]

Hello! Brand new to the Netduino world (as in just made the LED blink for the first time) and fascinated by this amazing little wonder! I just finished both MAKE books and wondering if I could get some advise regarding hardware purchases and/or any other ideas for a pan/tilt lighting project my daughter requested. I'm trying to see if I can figure out how to make it and quickly realizing I unknowingly promised a rather large project! The end result of this project will be an internet based iphone app to control a camera/light combo mounted on a pan/tilt system. We have to travel quite a bit for my job, and my daughter worries our pet cat is just as afraid of the dark as she is every night when we are away. Try as I might, I haven't found a way to convince her the cat is ok...and since my daughter is only 4 I'm going to try to put her mind at ease with this project I have in mind. I'd like to make the iphone app so she can check in on the cat from the road via the camera with an attached searchlight to pan around the room and find the cat. Once she finds the cat she wants to be able to turn on a colored nightlight for the cat and sing it a bedtime song over the phone. With the camera, lights, and speakers I'm guessing the pan/tilt turret will need to be fairly robust to account for carrying 5-10lbs of the various components. I know this whole project seems a little far fetched, and honestly I'm not even sure this is possible...but if all I have to lose is my time then I figure I better give it a try. Any advise would be much appreciated, thanks and have a great day! Adam

[JerseyTechGuy]

Let's see... I'll try to tackle this piece by piece. First, I am assuming based on what I've read that you are an IOS developer and able to write the iPhone Application.

I would start with the following hardware (if I were doing it):

• Netduino Plus (as you need Ethernet support)
• Motorshield for Arduino (Control Pan Tilt Servos)
• Tilt/Pan Servo Kit (Pan Tilt Servos for Camera)
• MP3 Player Shield (Play Music or recorded voice from your daughter)
• Relay Module (Control any 120VAC device like a lamp or nightlight)
• WiFi Based Nightvision Camera (Stream Video over WiFi and Internet)

Since the Netduino cannot handle streaming video, a WiFi or Ethernet Enabled Camera will be needed. Basically the Netduino would act as webserver controlling the Pan/Tilt, Music and AC Relay. The iPhone Application would then have two networking connections, one to the Netduino webserver and the second to the camera feed. I wouldn't mount the speakers or lights on the pan/tilt as you suggested. To get a pan/tilt to handle that kind of weight will be expensive.

There should be resources or code throughout the Netduino forums for the Motorshield, MP3 player, Relay Module.

[carb]

Adam, Not trying to down play the many capabilities of the Netduino line, but you would be hard pressed to match the capabilities of a commercial Pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) camera. They start at around $75.00. I have an Edimax with 2 megapixil camera, IR for zero ambient light. It can send email, record to SD card, be operated from iPhone or android phone. I of the better features that would be difficult with memory capacity of a Netdunio is security login and Https: protocols. Now if you want to be a robot or one of many other projects then Netduino's are great. Chuck

[Irishgreen]

Thank you for the help!!! I really appreciate it! Unfortunately no, I am not an IOS developer. I've done quite a bit of html and some java but IOS is also new to me. I found this book which will hopefully help me learn the ropes. Are there any other research/reference materials that might help with this development? Thanks again!

[Irishgreen]

I apologize, this is the book I was referring to. http://www.amazon.co...rds=ios arduino

[JerseyTechGuy]

Honestly, If I were to approach this project, I would probably develop a web application and host it on a server somewhere. This way it is accessible to any web enabled device not just an iPhone. Since you are working with C# for the Netduino anyway, write a web app in C# that runs on a server. I would then have the the web application handle communication with the Netduino for the Pan/Tilt, Music and Light. The web application would also handle display of the video stream from the camera. Plenty of tutorials on the web of how to do that. Really the quickest and easiest way, would simply be to buy a camera as Carb suggested. Use it's app for the camera. Then you could be running a web app on the Netduino itself to control the Music and Light. So it would simply be a matter of switching from the camera app to the browser when the cat is found and send commands to the Netduino to turn on the music and lights.

[Irishgreen]

Thank you again for your advice! I really appreciate you pointing me in the right direction!