DIY Surveillance Robot from Cheap IP Camera! Build and Test!

[@ThePostApocalypticInventor]

Hey guys! The best way to support this channel is to become a supporter on Patreon: www.patreon.com/TPAI

[@danbrit9848]

Add a line following PCB and lay a tape line to follow so it can patrol

[@diyhard666]

Zum einparken solltest du einfach etwas bauen das den Rover anhält und in Position hält und wenn er geladen ist, einfach rückwärts rausfahren.

[@quebrachoquebracho7432]

@@diyhard666 Der Roboter kann (leider) nur VORwärts fahren. Rückwärts rausfahren geht nicht!

[@diyhard666]

@@quebrachoquebracho7432 stimmt. Ich vergaß. Trotzdem könnte er etwas bauen in das der Roboter zum Laden leicht einrastet jedoch aus eigener Kraft wieder ausfahren kann. Is zwar nicht so einfach wie ne Garage mit Endstop, aber auch nicht superkompliziert.

[@ogdred4667]

Hey hear me out TPAI, how about a rail-mounted camera on the ceiling. That would give you mobility, good angles and the safety of not having the robot itself stolen.

[@MrHack4never]

Don't forget the robotic arm to increase mobility, the white paint job on the covers, and the sentient, yet incredibly stupid AI

[@azimalif266]

​@@MrHack4never😂

[@orange11squares]

yea, also add some lasers that would pierce tru the bad guys....and make them cry.

[@tamurlane6]

Yeah, maybe the goat is to have an overhead crane that you can put into sentinel mode with a camera. That way you're not taking up valuable crane space unlimited money life goals.

[@lewissmart7915]

@@orange11squaresthought of this, but its a fire hazard.. tazer might be better

[@TyMoore95503]

Very clever, well thought out design. Bravo! 👍 As for "discouraging" folks from loitering (and thus littering and doing other nasty things on private property) you might consider visiting a garden supply and using motion activated lawn sprinklers. They aren't cheap, but almost no municipalities can fault you for wanting to "water" your lawn or shrubberies to keep them "pretty." And the timing...merely a coincidence...😊 Good luck to you!

[@AldericBlain]

The issue is that you have to turn them off during winter. Otherwise, they can be damaged by freezing.

[@TyMoore95503]

@@AldericBlain That's true. Also, such devices equipped with lithium ion batteries can be damaged by deep cold.

[@sushidub]

Rather than motion control just add a switch that allows you to turn sprinkles on remotely. Use IP cameras built in motion sensors to trigger a notification. FWIW - most folks living in seasonally colder climates will blow out their sprinklers and turn the whole system off for the winter.

[@DeathbyKillerBong]

the best thing about tplink's cameras is the password protected RTSP stream, so you dont need to use their stupid apps but can use a sane program like ispy (in windows, linux, mac etc), or just vlc, cant use pan & tilt controls, thats app exclusive

[@IamEqualtoall]

Thanks for that info!

[@cggnow]

He could set up his own pan and tilt on the next version using the raspberry pi and some servo motors ;-)

[@Scrlk95]

I'm pretty sure there you can hook them up to Home assistant and use an add-on to control them

[@moth.monster]

Reolink cameras can do the same thing, at least the one I have. Not sure if their latest models do it.

[@TheBeefiestable]

the dual laser thing is brilliant, definitely worth an open source library

[@whitneydesignlabs8738]

I agree. Love the laser line idea. Camera trajectory and vehicle trajectory. Brilliant.

[@Alchemikazz]

My first thought was why not the different color lasers.

[@IamEqualtoall]

Awesome job! I can't wait to see the version with paintball gun that aims with the front camera, with high visibility dye similar to what they use to catch bank robbers.

[@christopherbedford9897]

Two things come to mind: First and most surprising is that Germany has the same social ills as we do in South Africa (can't be on the same scale although that is not the iportant point here) but second _OMG_ your inventiveness astonishes me every time a new video comes out. Amazing 😁

[@whitneydesignlabs8738]

Problem is global. Overpopulation core issue.

[@kirkyorg7654]

@@whitneydesignlabs8738 mass uncontrolled migration and lack of courage/balls of western governments to close the borders to criminal gangs and only allow legitimate refugees into our countries all western countries have effectively let an entire invading army across their borders and they will live to regret it as we have already seen with pro hasmas supporters of terrorists' taking over our streets breaking laws with impunity and our spineless Gov do nothing the entire world is a broken place atm and only by standing up and facing these issues firmly & head on will we save our countries so far all our Gov lack the spine to do so, we need to close our borders and when they do get in send them back they are destroying our economies

[@in.der.welt.sein.]

​@@whitneydesignlabs8738 how is it an "overpopulation issue"?

[@whitneydesignlabs8738]

Too many people, too few resources. Overpopulation leads to crime, despair, drug addiction, wars, energy shortage, hunger etc. All of those problems lead back to the main problem of overpopulation @@in.der.welt.sein.

[@twinchargedmr2]

Diversity, or non-White crime is now a plague in all western countries. Europe for Europeans! Canada for Canadians! America for Americans! Australia for Aussies! New Zealand for Kiwis!

[@RobertSandell]

I would probably make it simple for myself and mount a camera on top of a vacuum robot. They often have a feature to program a route and they "go home" automatically when the battery is low. You could probably find an old one where the vacuum part is broken because of too much pet hair or something 😅 But that probably wouldn't make it a very interesting project.

[@stevebabiak6997]

Or get an inexpensive one whey they are on clearance at LIDL

[@gasoutgarage6667]

Hi, great video as always. I think I would have started with a robot vacuum for the base. Hear me out! Comes with a charger base that it can find itself (IR Tx/Rx) can operate via an app, can roam around "on patrol" by itself, on mine I can drive it around manually and its pretty manoeuvrable. Broken ones can be had for cheap and if you want it could even vacuum the workshop! Alles Gute.

[@sushidub]

True. But for $10, some self education, on wireless charging and a fun time in the shop I’d take the RC version. Not to mention a helluva lot faster in getting away from being trampled by a freaked out burglar. 🏁

[@metalpachuramon]

I was about to suggest something similar, I have a robot vacuum cleaner that even has a camera and a manual drive mode that you can use remotely through an app, although it's not the same as a tilt and pan camera, it could be a good starting point. Regarding the inherit delay while driving it, I wonder if you could add set points to where the robot could drive automatically, that way you could monitor the camera and not worry about acting as a closed loop controller yourself.

[@sushidub]

Your vids never cease to inspire me to learn to work with electronics. Thanks for publishing this one and good to hear about your neighborhood contributions.

[@Dustin_the_wind]

Yor hand gestures say all there needs to be said; for I make the same EXACT motions. What is even going on anymore. More bad influences these days? I have nothing to offer but my sorrow, Gerolf. The times have not been kind to me in the states, and it gives me a bit of happiness to see you keeping up, and innovating alongside your troubles. Well done as usual.

[@Bob.Jenkins]

Excellent video, as usual. I had, and have, similar needs myself for security cameras - though thankfully, just from casual trespassers onto my land. I've installed dozens of cheap, discreet 'wild life' cameras in the surrounding woodland, which are camouflaged and built for longevity. They're motion sensitive, have excellent definition and can work for up to 3 months on a single set of batteries. The main reason I installed so many of them is that they themselves are also a target of opportunistic thieves.

[@onkelnb]

Had the same problem with my Camper as well. I totally agree, it is time to do something. I originally wanted to build a security cam hidden inside the most obvious fake camera dummy case. Experts say that thiefs spot fake cameras from a mile away and I wanted to use this against them. But that would need an effective, working crime investigation and it is still Germany, after all... Good luck for your robot and your Camper.

[@AerialWaviator]

Great project. When initially saw the video thumbnail, thought it was some kind of "RC bobsled". The snow, and two helmet like heads give this impression. The actual build, and ideas going into it was much more interesting and pragmatic a project.

[@wyattoneable]

That was another outstanding build. My wife and I just came back from Karlsruhe where her family lives. We noticed the same thing...increased litter, graffiti, and a general lack of common values.

[@lohikarhu734]

I wonder what is causing the "drift" in the conditions? Some kind of cultural change?

[@markrenton3941]

@@lohikarhu734 Exactly. We all know who is responsible for this. We also know who is responsible for importing them.

[@kirkyorg7654]

@@lohikarhu734 uncontrolled mass migration lack of willingness to assimilate plain and simple, you can keep your own culture but you must be willing to compromise and try to meet the host country/culture half way all these new illegal migrants have no intention of doing that they want to bring their cultural troubles with them and expect the host country/people to accept that they come from third world shItholes and quickly start turning their new home country into the same mess they left behind

[@in.der.welt.sein.]

​@@markrenton3941 No foreigner commits a crime for which a German law doesn’t already exist, i.e. is not definitely part of the customs of our civilized nation.

[@pigliamelina]

You are the very best of internet makers, pure passion with exquisite knowledge. Greetings from Argentina.

[@bigwave_dave8468]

We have several pan and tilt cameras on a remote property. I find that welding some brackets to move the camera off of the building’s face give you greater range of visibility. At the end of the day the cameras are as much a deterrent as a surveillance mechanism and with many cameras visible to a potential intruder, that intruder knows they are being watched. You can use old bed frame ang iron to weld brackets as the material is usually free. In our case the incidence of vandalism has dropped to zero.

[@SireSquish]

If your pi based idea doesn't already do something like this, then perhaps reusing a standard R/C vehicle as the base might work. Ie, you send instructions via IP traffic to the pi, which then sends the appropriate signal to the R/C controller, and then the R/C controller handles the rest.

[@lohikarhu734]

One floor robot that we have just uses a kind of wedge-shaped guide that the robot drives into, which forces the wheels to the center, and it just hits a hard stop at the charge point.

[@xoxo2008oxox]

Excellent work and explanation. Now, let's go for Metalhead... no one will mess with your property ever.

[@PMoney365]

This is gold! Idea: Maye an outdoor wifi security camera with a 10k+ lumen spot light and a really loud speaker

[@madst7521]

I'd use the wheels off the toy robot - it might take 4 motors, but being able to drive sideways would make driving better. Another idea could be to build a simple line follower robot (there's many tutorials for raspberry pi) and simply paint a black line on the floor and have the robot follow that.

[@gydo1942]

Great work! I had this idea years ago when I got my first IP camera. Never got around to it though. As you said, a version 2 of this would be a great raspberry Pi project. It would probably be easier to steer and drive, because you can also drive backwards. Driving backwards a little bit is incredibly useful if you do get the robot stuck somewhere. If you do build a raspberry pi version, There is camera motion detection software called "motion", which provides a web stream for the camera and i believe it can run scripts when it detects motion. Might be useful to you. I think it would be super cool to build a robot like this once, using something like ROS and a Lidar scanner so it can automatically navigate to a certain area and automatically return to its docking station. Also, a version with skid-steering/tank steering would probably be easier to navigate. I imagine it's not very easy to steer, especially with the delays as you mention.

[@whitneydesignlabs8738]

I am pretty sure the little robot at 18:00 is getting a bit jealous about now. :) Great work! I love how you integrated the line lasers. Brilliant!!

[@danielpas368]

For control of the motor. You could set a pulse monitor with an Arduino and output a speed control, tap up to go faster, tap down to reverse. Tap opposite to stop

[@jimsvideos7201]

Your robot 100% looks like something I'd expect to see rolling around some Empire facility in the next star wars movie.

[@philiprisacher7375]

I love your ingenuity. I had a couple of thoughts for the robot, (although it sounds like you're making something better anyway). First you could drive the motor the same way you drove the steering, use the stepper as a servo to actuate a mechanical speed control, then you could have reverse. Next is the charging setup, if you could mount the inductor like a shield on the front or rear, then you would just have to line up with the target device and drive into it mounted on the wall, maybe have a strong magnet to finalize position and ensure that it doesn't roll back. I'm sorry you're dealing with so much petty crime. It sure brings down the quality of life when you've always got that in the back of your mind.

[@illustriouschin]

My thoughts are: the wheels and ground clearance are too small, you can use IR lights and lasers that are visible on camera but not by eye. Also install an alarm that activates if it is picked up or turned upside down.

[@TheUncleRuckus]

I'm sorry to hear you had a break in TPAI, but I'm glad to see you're being proactive about home security. You should tie in that Alarm Bell, and Yellow flashing lights that you fixed up a few years ago into your system, so you could press a button to set it off to scare off any would be intruders. The little RC camera car for blind spots is an awesome idea! At first I thought you were going to hack a Roomba and mount a camera on it lol, but this is much better. The only thing I'd do differently is mount an Airsoft gun loaded with metal Airsoft BB's so I could shoot said intruders if they made it inside. Great video as always! 👍👍

[@boehst]

How about using the second stepper-motor to operate a switch: right=forward, center=stop and left=back? That way you can run the robot continuously and even back up into a hiding-spot! Greets, Beat

[@mkay6089]

Fantastic job, what if you accidentally ht something and need to reverse to get the unit out of a jam?? You may need a reverse.

[@DonariaRegia]

A good fence and a guard dog is worth thinking about, especially in the long term. Your yard will earn a reputation as one not to enter.

[@Ryan_Tidwell]

Dogs are more costly in time and money than just dealing with the thieves.

[@DonariaRegia]

@@Ryan_Tidwell Thieves can put someone out of business. Over twenty years with a fence and a guard dog and not one thief.

[@Ryan_Tidwell]

​@@DonariaRegiayou don't live in the same neighborhood. Also, most dogs are pets not guard dogs.

[@djsherz]

Awesome project! I had an idea that would give you more controls than just the onscreen joystick though. If your IP camera has the intercom function, how about using DTMF tones or something similar to control the robot? I don't know if your phone would allow you to use its own keypad tones at the same time as running the app, but you could play the tones on an old secondhand phone held close to the main one. On the receiving end, you just have the speaker output of the camera hooked up (via an attenuator probably) into a DTMF decoder, that would give you up to 10 outputs via TTL logic or even relays that could control forward/reverse, steering, maybe even turn spotlights on and off. Just my two cents worth anyway. Love the project! - John

[@jays3350]

Thanks for the camera recommendation… I ordered one and loved it and already ordered a second. I hope Tapo compensates you or sponsors you in the near future. I plan on buying 2 more, but I won’t buy unless they sponsor you. Either way, love the videos and thank you

[@McTroyd]

Love your implementation for forward drive. I might have used the up/down servo on a potentiometer for forward/reverse drive, but I think your implementation is far more elegant. Maybe one of those lasers could be a different color, or use a beam splitter that projects a target from the laser that moves. Also, to save power, maybe the lasers could shut off after a period of time with no motion.

[@cheeto4493]

Looks good. The only thing I might have done differently was hook the resistors into a micro-controller in a quadrature encoder arrangement. That way the direction of pulses would signal motor direction. Not sure it would work with bipolar motors though. And you still can't see to back up, but if you over shoot your charger base, you don't have to go all the way around.

[@werewolf74]

You could probably do a LOT with a remote control car and a cheap smartphone. You can set a phone to automatically take a call, like on Skype. I see the battery bank and I kept thinking dropping a smart phone in there could be very useful to make sounds, record, or even just for location. I have thought a LOT about a mechanical device that can push buttons or use a controller. So you slide it over and maybe it type son a keyboard or slide a controller in and it moves the physical controller. This is pretty cool. You really should also just set up some motion sensing and an alarm system. They walk on your property and an audible alarm goes off.

[@ProtonOne11]

For the raspberry project i have an idea to improve the driving part. You could probably reduce the resolution of the picture to reduce the delay and get a better frame rate for faster motion. Once you get to some interesting spot, you switch to the high resolution mode to get the slower but more detailed pictures. Maybe you can do the adaptive resolution on one single camera, or you do similarly to this robot, having a driving camera, and a second inspection camera. Another thing that might be interesting is to add cameras that are tuned to the IR spectrum and add some IR lights, so you could drive around and see in the dark. Or else you would need remote light switches in your shop to turn on the light so you can go do your nightly inspection runs.

[@MagicGumable]

We need MOAR (Mother Of All Rovers :P) Please keep us updated on the raspberry pi rover :D

[@DarrenDignam]

Oh, so this is what the first iteration borg looked like? Neat. I guess they are organic at heart, needing visible wavelength lasers for navigation is a vestigial evolutionary feature that just works

[@paulnolastname9422]

I like these kinds of videos and thanks for sharing your ideas. I look forward to version 2.

[@Bulten1973]

Liked. Feedback on printed rc units: design holes for nuts and bolts so you can redesign a single part. I always liked the märklin on a wall. Should be possible to have a camera cart😊. Or build a track loop on the roof with a hanging camera. Could also be camouflaged as a toy skilift / hot air balloon.

[@generaldisarray]

Excellent job. One idea to improve the responsiveness/image quality of the Tapo C210 is to enable the QoS (Quality of Service) settings on your ISP/your router and give your cameras priority. This will prioritise the traffic from the cameras over other devices on your network like settop boxes, printers, PC's, phone, tablets, etc Re the Robo Master S1 and having to be on the same network. Depending on the modem/router you have you could set it up as a VPN server, you could then VPN from anywhere in the world and to the S1 you would appear to be on the same network, so could control it remotely. A slight rant re the Tapo wall mounts... Why are the tabs on the mount off at an angle when the camera is fully attached, as in you have to fit it to the wall with the tabs at a funny angle so when you mount the camera the power lead points in the direction you want. The mount, unlike so many others, is of no use if you want to mount the camera on a tripod, or suction window mount for looking outside. I made my own mounts for this purpose by buying some 1/4-20 UNC hotshoe mounts, cutting them down a bit, then I cut a slot in the Tapo mount, and epoxyed in the mount, I then attached that abomination to a hot shoe for my tripod. I've also use 1/4-20 UNC nuts epoxyed to the Tapo mounts to attach a camera to a window suction mount. Both work quit well.

[@voneschenbachmusic]

Wow - what an amazing project and not too complex but very usable!

[@Popeyes66]

You are far too Brainy for KZbin . I always enjoy the things you come up with. Thanks for great free entertainment.

[@Evilslayer73]

pretty cool little rc cam !salutation from Montreal,Québec!crime rates are insane here too car theft,catalytic converter my insurance almost doubled this year!we have to vote for the right person :)

[@vincentvanhelden6186]

I always love you work. I would be cool if you could develop build kit to make the surveillance robot. I will by a Tapo camera and try it out. Thanks again.

[@DOCTOROCTAGONAPUSS]

I have two of those exact cameras in my home. Incredible use of the existing parts!

[@faridsafazadeh1137]

Just fascinating like always!! You are getting better and better and the educational load of your clips get heavier all the time. I wish I could keep up ... but sadly I am just a beginner anyways still enjoy watching your clips a lot. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@OktaFierce]

Great idea. I thought you would use the vertical axis motor by adding a lever to activate forward or reverse micro switches for movement.

[@metallitech]

Sorry about the crime level in your area. It's extremely frustrating. Politicians are negligent at best.

[@dennisp.2147]

Politicians are complicit. They're importing the problem.

[@absurdengineering]

Let’s restore some pillories in Europe. Apparently the vandals don’t understand more modern languages.

[@trustthewater]

Hopefully, the manufacturers see this video and start producing products like this. I would think TP-Link could push out effective ROVs for super cheap. That being said, this is really impressive and has got me thinking about using an ESP board for something similar. Being able to leverage their product and existing service so you don't have to mess with code is very clever, though.

[@HobkinBoi]

Mecanum wheels. Use those with your pi build for significantly better maneuverability as you can strafe or spin on the spot.

[@sparkyprojects]

If i was a burglar and saw a robot rolling around, i't be more likely to stomp on it You would need some sort of illumination at night on the robot (IR maybe), and hope you don't run out of power before getting back to the charger You just need fixed cameras that cover all points of entry, and external cameraslooking at anything valuable

[@williwonti]

Sounds like Mr Robot needs a few steak knives attached

[@kass9722]

or pick it up & steal it

[@NiHaoMike64]

@@kass9722If a radio jammer is legal to own but not operate, put one in something they'll want to steal, rigged to activate when stolen. Something similar with a smoke bomb is another idea.

[@markrenton3941]

@@williwonti The commie govt there would likely charge him if he did that. That's the most infuriating part. The import these criminals ---- and then actively prevent anyone from protecting themselves from them.

[@sushidub]

It’s an RC motor so you could in theory use it as a ‘get away car’ as well. - OR Use a mini drone, they have built-in steak knives. Mine also has a built camera, and overall only 3in. across. Wireless charging would need to be added but the size of the battery pack is tiny compared to an rc power brick. No burglar in their right mind is going to try to stop a drone.

[@clintstallone]

Is it top heavy, looks like it could fall over easily.

[@ThePostApocalypticInventor]

Actually not since the battery is in the bottom and is by far the heaviest component.

[@bickhofe]

❤❤❤ Great Video! It reminds me of my first tinkering attempts in the early 2000s. Back then, I equipped an RC snow groomer with a wireless video camera that transmitted its signal to a USB video digitizer, which could capture single frames under V4L. I connected the original RC remote control via a few TTL chips and an ELV IO controller for the parallel port. My mobile internet device at that time was an iMode-capable NEC smartphone (NEC N21i), on which I could move the RC model with a simple WAP website. After each control command, the current snapshot was then embedded as an image in the WAP page. Today I use a bunch of TAPO Cameras combined with the frigate running with a Google Coral TPU Device for Object Detection of Persons, Cars or Animals around my House for about 2 Years now.

[@markwelch1836]

A robot hanging on a cable above will be another option. The American NFL does this for their game broadcast and it seems to work well.

[@DIYuntilDAWN]

The robot looks a bit wobbly while moving. In case it tips over, you might want to add a set of arms that can stand it back up if it falls over.

[@Driftkart]

very cool, I would use a green laser for angle & red for camera position...Green light is also more visible in high light

[@sushidub]

Exactly my thoughts when first seeing the lasers in action

[@musthavechannel5262]

Great execution of the idea. But building such solution with that much latency is going to be very difficult since you have already discovered (and shown us) that driving needs realtime feedback. Back in the day when computer users had to deal with latency between keyboard input and the screen output, they developed software around the philosophy of "performing large tasks by compounding small and limited number of inputs". May be you need that sort of a solution. May be you need to program you robot to switch between specific locations in the house following your limited predefined commands, sort of an "on rails" solution.

[@CJWarlock]

Nicely done. I also appreciate that you do care about the neighborhood. :) Cheers!

[@mikemakuh5319]

Another great video, and thank you for your commentary.

[@piconano]

What prevents them from just taking your robot or squishing it with their foot? No. You are dealing with criminals that have nothing to lose. You need an armored AWD with 4 independent motors enabling tank drive steering (truck windshield wiper gearmotors or massage chair motors work great) , with large dolly sized wheels or a pair of tracks if you can make one or salvage a snowblower tracks. You have everything you need to build a monster right now. Show them who's the boss and they'll leave you alone. Your pan an tilt has to be incorporated in the body with only bullet proof plexiglass to look out from. Nothing must stick out that can be bashed with a bat or a pipe. If it weighs 200-300 lbs (use lead acid batteries from junkyard to power it), you can confront and record them in the alley and kick their asses if they decide to harm the robot, by just ramming them. I build one in 2007 using 2 wheelchair gearmotors and 2 Honda snowblower tracks and drive wheels (bought new for $1000 just for the Honda track parts), but the entire body was made of 6 layers fiberglass covered the 20mm plywood, but because of the 2 huge truck lead acid batteries, I couldn't move it. It would push anyone out of its way. That beast was made to plow my driveway from the comfort of my TV and RC remote! If I had steel working tools like you do, I would've definitely built it out of 1/4" welded steel. I sold it when I sold the house. Not bad for a $1500 machine that gave me so much joy for 2 years. Plowing snow in winter, and dragging the lawnmower around in the summer while I sat in the backyard patio in the shade, sipping ice tea and "Mowing the lawn" .

[@midgoog2]

A paint ball gun would be a useful addition. Even better a tesla coil based spark projector would get the attention of the drug addled "campers" if the robot came out of the dark with laser lights ablaze and sparks flying. Cheers Eric

[@MRrwmac]

Not only a great video and subject, BUT excellent work on the project!!

[@2.7petabytes]

Absolutely love your videos and projects! Cheers from middle America!

[@Guishan_Lingyou]

Awesome project. You mentioned that you used Fusion360 to designed the 3D printed parts. Maybe it would fit in well with the overall spirit of this channel to transition to open source software like FreeCad. Just an idea.

[@Dragonnuno21]

I think we had the idea of using TAPO camera at the same time, but in my case it was a different idea, I created a personal assistant and I intend to add some mobility and gestures with additional hardware that I haven't chosen yet. Using a server on the same network, my Tapo c210 camera can: - listen to voice commands and interpret: RTSP stream, openai/speech-to-text - use this text to generate the response: openai/GPT-4 - read this text as an answer: openai/text-to-speech - when play the response voice, the camera moves at the same time, to appear more friendly and alive: pytapo If you use GPT-3.5 the response is instantaneous! The only thing I haven't been able to solve yet is getting the camera to produce the sound of the server's response. In this case the sound is only coming from the computer/server. (If anyone could help me I would appreciate it) I advise you to explore these features! It's super interesting maybe using an esp-32 (arduino) in parallel with the camera board could be a good idea 🤔

[@JoshuaJoshua0]

Great vid! I was thinking of doing something similar but utilizing some sort of track system suspended from the ceiling. Maybe a toy train or something. Though one thing I'm concerned about with my current video surveillance system is the increase in use of WIFI jammers.

[@horisontial]

What about just a few more stationary IP cams? Loved the dual lasers though! I would suggest a smoke/fog security system. It makes it impossible for intruders to locate anything really and it's quite cost effective.

[@badrinair]

thank you for sharing. wonderful project. I am using something called Devastator as a platform to have an IP camera on it. the Tank like platform is controlled by a Pi-Zero

[@cggnow]

I like this alot! Do those IP cameras have night vision as well? If they don't, that would be a good upgrade. If you could, eventually, make the robot follow a pre-programmed route, avoiding obstacles in it's way, you may give Boston Dynamics' Spot robot a run for it's money! Ok maybe not, since Spot can climb stairs and open doors, but it would definitely be a budget-friendly alternative since I think Spot sells for $80,000. Maybe you could also add the ability to turn on all the surrounding lights to ward off a potential intruder. This might allow you to record better video of the intruder as well. If that doesn't scare them off, you might try using that horn you attached to your garage.

[@ddzwiedziu]

3:40 I'd like to see that video. For the internet access issues you could just use a VPN (DIY rather). 9:53 Can the powerbank charge itself and supply power at the same time (passtrough)?

[@bigbird2100]

Great video 👍 A Great outcome from a necessari situation adding a Air tracker might be a good idea people will walk off with this one off robot 😊

[@JosephKeenanisme]

Was thinking about raspberry pi when you were building it. A tweak for the charging station I was thinking of... have a fence on the front half about the height of the navigation camera. *you'd obviously have to see the area that you can play around with where the battery and charger will be working* It sort of dummy proofs the parking on the charger if you're away from home. It's not like you'd really be able to see the charge light come on/stay on remotely. If the fence half kennel, whatever you'd want to call it) is attached to the charging plate and you put a little speed bump where the rear tires would rest it could provide some protection from vibration if you live near train tracks or a road that gets a lot of truck traffic. I used to live near freight tracks and a main road that had a lot of 18 wheelers, plus I always count on one of the cats to be a schweinehund ;) It's sad going back to where I grew up, it used t be suburbs. The urban blight has swallowed up a lot of the area. I think it's a bit worse here in the US because no one gives a rat's butt about the historical significance of a neighborhood. The mentality here is tear the building down and build another press board Mc Mansion that will fall apart when the first real blizzard or norEaster comes along. :(

[@grahammctygue724]

Glad you are in better health blessings to you and family 🙏🙏🎉🎉😊😊

[@azimalif266]

The line lasers are genius!

[@Leehensman]

Fantastic vid, think just seeing those lazers coming would freak anyone out, i know it would me, Would be good to attach rear camera to some sort of remotely operated bipod so can extend the height of the camera.

[@Schlecknits]

Very cool project. May I ask you why you always opted for super glue instead of using machine screws? In my expirence 3D printed parts, particularly those in motion tend to wear and sometimes break. Using screws makes it so you can more easily replace the broken part only

[@triedzidono]

RE: how would you have gone about this ? - I wouldn't have done it like that. I would have stared at the parts in confusion and not made myself a robot at all. but, thanks for asking how I would go about it. Keep doing things, your way !

[@SerenityMae11]

Lol

[@Jimmy___]

Awesome project! My only critique is that you will likely need a reverse gear, and it seems a bit unstable. Hopefully the DIY version will have lower latency too! Very cool overall though

[@felixcrafter8360]

Very nice idea. Cool that this works so well.

[@ruairihackett4737]

I wonder if a line of black tape on the ground could act as a marker for the positioning for charging? It could line up with the bottom of the frame (with the camera pointed to its lowest position, or some other consistent position) when the robot is over the charger.

[@prr500]

As a room(s) surveillance device, maybe be sound and motion activation with ability to follow to the sound and or motion?

[@TotoGuy-Original]

this is a really cool project a change from scrapyard finds! although I do like the scrapyard finds better!

[@wilbauk]

Also have the cameras high up on a pole like big bag theory virtual sheldon. I supose suspension would need to be better. Nice build

[@wilbauk]

Cusromized Robot vacuum base. Variable height camera,

[@daemiax]

I'm curious, wouldn't using a gear to steer a better idea? Or maybe just 1/3rd of a gear stepped up to increase the steering speed slightly?

[@TheBlackadder-Edmund]

Hack a roomba style cleaning thing (secondary brands such a Conga, also get a second hand one where probably only the battery is dead) and to drive it with the tapo on top, extra lithium batteries on top to feed all and a cheap/old smartphone to access the contraption via wifi and 4g with the phone sim card? Not saying it would be easy but less need of 3d printing? Old Congas had a remote control, an ebay wifi mofule to control left/right, forward/reverse of the remote connected to the smartphone hotspot in case electricity/router of the location is off. Maybe feasible?

[@paranoidzkitszo]

Since they are stepper motors could you not data log the signal ffom the auto ptz tracking go capture what would be the camera tilting up. down a nd then the degrees of rotation? I Then use those data points as a startin point o incorporate a forward drive where signal would have triggered tilt up....a revers if tilt down and left turn if triggered fom 90 degree or rght if 180 forward again if at 0...something like that? Then some object sensing for obstackle avoidance/k keeping a distance...and walla you have a n auto follw security droid....

[@ZiGLH]

Hello, i'm watching all of your videos, it s so inpirating ! Thanks for your work.

[@CaseyConnor]

I was going to ask why you didn't implement some kind of latching circuit for the forward/back control (e.g. tap up once and it starts rolling forward, tap up again and it stops) but then you explained the lag and i realized that you aren't really going to want to drive forward like that anyway when navigating around. And then you explained that you were building an entire robot from scratch, so it's moot anyway. :-) Thanks for the video.

[@rushikesh1038]

Add a proximity sensing taser and alarm like thing on top of the cameras for defence or maybe a GLADOS from portal game like contraption hanging from ceiling running on rails like 3d printer also with taser and alarm 👍🏽

[@raymundoii]

I was just thinking about doing this to my fixed IP Cameras! I've just replaced a couple with PTZ ones, so instead of mothballing them I was imagining uses. Another idea I had was attaching a couple to a large-ish kite or small hot air balloon, for a bird's eye view of our fence line, maybe you could try that? I was imagining a self contained wifi hotspot attached, as it would probably be out of range of our regular wifi.

[@nicolaschampagne8988]

very nice build. thank for sharing

[@patrickeagle7540]

Great video, I’ve just installed a camera myself

[@akhurash]

This is a really cool project!! Great job.

[@Kuri_Labo]

how about if you change on of the lasers for a green one? it would be easier to steering the robot, i recently run around a very cheap construction plus sign laser that shows when you are off from a level surface and a rechargeable battery inside

[@nathantron]

Of all the companies, TP-Link is one that I trust most, but I worry how much they are trying to move things to the cloud...

[@pedroramos3128]

Grate job, but maybe it's easier to navigate with a drone. Keep doing your projects they are very inspiring.