webcam, arduino, dc motor

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hi, all of member of Arduino forum. I am a newbie member in this forum.
So, i want to ask about something

Actually it's all about my final project.
So i make face detection and face tracking in VS2008+openCV. And then how my system working, when our face(capture in real time using webcam) move to the left or to the right, dc motor that is connected with arduino uno also rotating to left or to the right synchron with face motion.

So, Is it possible to make integration between webcam, arduino uno and dc motor in real time??
Please....help me answer my question. Because i should collect it one month later :~

Sorry for my poor english. I'm not fluently in english

2

Is it possible to make integration between webcam, arduino uno and dc motor in real time??

No.

However if your web cam talks to some PC software then that software talks to an arduino and that controls a servo rather than a DC motor. Then you have a project you can do.

3

Hi, The problem here is that the Arduino can not handle the camera: the data size is too big and and the speed is too fast..

You will have to do the face recognition in a PC or other large computer. Then Arduino could do the other part.

4

Really?
oh my God..what i have to do? :disappointed_relieved:

how about if i make an initialization and send my face movement(left or right) to arduino as ASCII code like left=A and right=B.

Is it any hope that webcam can work with arduino?

5

Is it any hope that webcam can work with arduino?

No not a hope in hell.

6

queen_agassi:
Is it any hope that webcam can work with arduino?

You won't be able able to get a standard USB webcam to work with a regular Uno; maybe in the near future (crossing fingers), when the Due becomes available, there might be a chance (if device drivers are available) - but with a standard Uno, there just isn't the memory available.

Furthermore, there's not enough memory (flash or RAM), nor enough speed to do anything close to what would be needed to do facial recognition and tracking. So, once again to reiterate what another poster said, you need to have a PC in the "loop" doing the actual facial recognition part, with the USB web camera plugged into it, and the PC sending commands to the Arduino to control a servo or other actuator system to move the camera for tracking. No real way around that, I'm afraid. Just realize that for "PC" you don't have to have a full-on personal computer (but it helps); you could, for instance, use something smaller - some kind of "embeddable" PC like the Raspberry PI, or a Nano-ITX board, or some kind of Atom-based netbook, etc. Ultimately, though, you do need to use something that has the memory and speed needed to do the image processing and connect with (ie, have drivers available) for the webcam.

That said - there is one -possible- option: If you have a camera that has composite output of some sort, you could try to do some form of crude tracking (though not likely facial recognition), using Nootropic Design's Video Experimenter shield:

Once again, you won't be able to use it for facial recognition; there's also the fact that since it uses the TVOut library, which uses quite a bit of memory, things are going to be tight right out of the gate RAM-wise. But, if you were willing to put a reflective dot on your forehead, and illuminate it with IR light, you could track that dot and have the camera follow that. Of course, you'd then have a few other issues to work out (namely getting the video signal into a PC or where ever else you need it; you haven't really said what the purpose of this tracking project is).

Still - it's an idea to think about, but it would still be a long-shot.

7

I realize I am resurrecting a topic that is more than a year old but would it be possible to do it with a dedicated Android device for the imaging software? If I can write an app using the ADK to just return values for whether the face is to the left/ right of the camera. I can then send these results over TCP/IP (read ethernet shield) and an html page to control the servo. The arduino will just have to parse the string sent from the android device. Similarly, if I was able to use the Androids new face recognition in 4.3, I could have the app return the name of the person as well?
This has the potential to work, correct?

warm regards,
V

8

This has the potential to work, correct?

Correct. :slight_smile:

9

I just don't see the point of the Arduino. Why not just use a laptop to do everything?

10

Is that in general or for just this project? If the latter I completely agree. Or use a Raspberry Pi.

11

For the project! If I did not see a point in using the Arduino in general why would I wast my time (132+ hours) using this forum.

The Arduino has it's place in many projects, especially smaller ones. My point was that if you already have to have a laptop why take up even more space with the Arduino. A laptop can control a few motors as well as perform the facial recognition.

12

The laptop is purely to do some testing. There is a new board called Udoo, set to come out soon.
It sports a arduino due as well as can run a linux device (Android on a chip). So now I can directly connect a camera from wherever and do facial recognition + control a servo on a turret. This opens up a lot of possible applications (on a chip).

Warm Regards,
v