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)
From internets: Most ESP32 models feature dual-core processors (Core 0 and Core 1), enabling true, simultaneous execution of tasks, or the use of single-core multitasking via time-slicing.
xTaskCreatePinnedToCore: This function allows developers to assign specific tasks to a particular core (Core 0 or Core 1) to manage resource usage.
thanks! multi cores and threaded doesn't work the way ppl think it does when objects and peripherals are shared. so when i said the single threaded makes it difficult - that's mostly referring to how the esp32 and all microcontrollers share resources. technically, the real way it "could" work is if it was 3 cores haha. because one could be acting as the tcp stack wifi driver. but anyway, i have a solution without the overhead of time slicing.
remember, the camera is blocking i/o not the cpu - which is also the biggest factor.
so my new code i wrote should solve the issue... at least, i think so. i'll have to publish it later after the new ARC release. we have an ARC release planned this monday but i'm gonna squeeze in a few changes into it for firmwares.
Brilliant! Thanks for all the hard work! Looking forward to testing. Have a good rest of your weekend.
Try this: https://synthiam.com/Firmware/ESP32-Cam-with-PCA9685-WOKTPYS1WBN
*Note: This firmware requires ARC 2026.02.02.00 or newer. Wait for tonight when new ARC is published. It just used a new version # that's not in the current arc.
YOU did it DJ! It works like a charm. I added a couple of servos i get 28/30 fps on the camera and i connected 2 servos on servo pad working like a champ! Congrats on this success!!! Hopefully it opens up all kinds of things to do with the ESP32s! So excited.
Awesome - that's about the best it can get i think. It's running as fast as it can and using both cores. Core 0 is used for the tcp stack so it has free ability to not be blocked if there's more than one core. then the camera and ezb run on the second core. if a single core esp32 is used, it'll use the same core for everything but should still suffice.
Great progress! When do you anticipate launching the Mecha Morphix project?
@dspiller I've officially been working on this for over a year. I'm a one man show (and a perfectionist). A double edged sword. LOL.
I want to have this done and out the door, but I am still making changes based on feed back from our round 2 beta testers. Lots of changes to print materials etc. And now we have another option for a controller that needs to be added in! Yay. But its all getting closer.