My course has primarily focused on robotics projects using the EZ-B controller and a camera for real-time interfacing. With recent developments, I am planning to create an additional video that incorporates Synthiam's support for other types of controllers. Although I've successfully flashed an alternative controller, it lacked compatibility with camera integration and Wi-Fi capabilities. The absence of an onboard computer limits the use of a USB camera, posing a significant challenge.
This dependency on specific components like the EZ-B, IO Tiny, and cameras can be problematic. For my course project, Mecha Morphix, which involves controlling five servos, the Arduino Mega seems excessive. I am in search of a suitable controller, compatible with Synthiam ARC, that includes both Wi-Fi and camera support to effectively replace the EZ-B.
I noticed that the ESP32 with a camera is listed among the supported controllers for ARC. Has anyone experimented with using the ESP32 in conjunction with a camera for such applications? Any insights or experiences would be appreciated.
Related Hardware (view all EZB hardware)
Related Robot Skills (view all robot skills)
Here is the ESP 32 expansion board i got for my robot arm.
I used the ESP32 CAM in the palm of my robot hands. https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/MJPEG-Stream-in-Camera-20263?commentPage=2#comments-list
I managed to get 5 GPIO ports working with DJ help but I remember it was painful See the firmware conversation here. https://synthiam.com/Firmware/ESP32-Cam-EZB-5KUNP4UTSW0?commentPage=5
Yeah, that's right, @Nink! I remember now. Will, you can thank Nink for laying the groundwork. I do remember it being quite a challenging ordeal to figure out what pins to use. That was also in the early days of esp32 and there wasn't much documentation.
2021! You guys were ahead of the curve (again). They have come a long way (ESP 32s) and so many boards/manufactures and support! But def need to do homework with different boards..as with everything they're some trash boards out there. The formfactor and the power make it a great cheap EZB. Even a non camera version would work with a webcam option for camera.
I got a few goodies in the mail today. Very curious to compare. Also the OV3660 cameras are supposed to be far more superior to the old cameras. Total cost for items in the image were less than $30.
oh nice deal. i'm interested to see how that's going to work out. might need to check a datasheet or use openai or athena to verify the ezb firmware ports against their design. other than that, it should just work
Ok some initial tests today. Asking too much from the ESP32 CAM. Its so overwhelmed with the camera data via wi-fi, I get less than one frame a sec on the iphone tests, but def could be used as just a controller.
BUT, the Freenove ESP32-S3 Wrover shown above (red board), is extremely powerful and gives me 25 to 30 frames (via wifi) a sec at 320x240 plenty for motion detection/object detect. I found a breakout board that is a bit larger than the housed EZB specifically for this board. As DJ pointed out since it is all the ESP stuff is opensource, I found different boards with different pin spacings so they are not all plug and play.
The Freenove ESP32 Wrover is a 40 pin board and the expansion board below is designed to work with it...its a bit big, 3.39 by 3.1 inches (cost $12.00) . I'm sure there smaller versions. So if I can get it all to work, it would be Expansion Board $12, cam $6, ESP32 $15 = $33
I'll take a look at the pin out mapping tomorrow.
Freenove Breakout Board for ESP32 / ESP32-S3 WROVER WROOM
you're testing with the ezb firmware? if not, you're not going to get the high framerate. hippy opensource code won't be as effecient as the ezb firmware.