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Web Controlled Camera Turret

In this instructable I will walk you through the steps on how to make a a servo-driven turret with a raspberry pi camera module, which you control over the web.

Use it to spy on your cat or keep an eye on the kettle when you leave the room or any other situation where you need a third eye.

This is a fun and fairly beginner friendly introduction to servo-control with raspberry pi, servers, html, php and databases. It requires little to no prior knowledge on any of the mentioned subjects but will hopefully spark your interest and encourage you to learn more on those topics.

I will however assume you are a bit familiar with the raspberry and have used the camera module before, if not, check out a tutorial on how to set up and use the camera before starting this project.

I have used some 3D-printed parts for the turret (links are provided to STL-files) but if you dont have access to one of those, I will explain how you can make this project anyway.

You will need:

- Raspberry pi (I use a 3B+, you can probably use any pi but I’m not sure a zero will be able to stream very fast)
- power supply
- microSD card
- Servo hat (I used this from adafruit: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-16-channel-pwm-servo-hat-for-raspberry-pi/overview)
- Raspberry pi camera module
- 2 micro servo motors

Optional:

- 3D-printed parts
- 4-6 M2x12 screws with nuts
- Table clamp
- Hot glue gun
- Zip ties”

Link to article