ESP32 Cam

ESP32 Cam EZB

Hardware: ESP32 Cam ESP32 Cam

Author: DJ Sures

This firmware converts a ESP32 Cam into an EZB for ARC to connect to it.

This firmware transforms the ESP32 Cam module into a fully functional EZ-B with an integrated Synthiam ARC camera, providing a powerful all-in-one solution for robotics and IoT applications. The firmware allows the ESP32 Cam to simultaneously operate as a video streaming device and a controller for peripherals like servos and sensors, making it an ideal choice for compact, feature-rich projects.

Key Features:

  1. EZ-B Compatibility: The firmware enables the ESP32 Cam to emulate an EZ-B, making it compatible with Synthiam ARC for controlling robotics systems and IoT devices.
  2. Integrated Camera: The ESP32 Cam’s built-in camera streams video directly to Synthiam ARC, offering real-time visual feedback alongside EZ-B functionality.
  3. Dual Functionality: Supports servo control and camera streaming simultaneously, making it versatile for applications requiring both visual monitoring and peripheral actuation.

Recommended GPIO Pins for Servos:

To ensure smooth operation of both the camera and peripheral controls, the following pins are recommended for use in servo control while the camera is active:

  • D2
  • D12
  • D13
  • D14
  • D15

These pins are optimized to avoid conflicts with the camera's operation and other internal processes, ensuring reliable performance in EZ-B mode.

How It Works:

  1. EZ-B Functionality: The ESP32 Cam handles peripheral controls, such as servo motors, sensors, and other devices, through Synthiam ARC commands.
  2. Video Streaming: The built-in camera streams video directly to Synthiam ARC, enabling real-time monitoring and control.
  3. Resource Allocation: The firmware ensures efficient management of the ESP32 Cam's resources, prioritizing critical functions like video streaming and servo control.

Benefits:

  1. Compact All-in-One Solution: Combines the functionality of an EZ-B and a camera into a single, compact device, saving space and reducing complexity in your projects.
  2. Cost-Effective: Offers a budget-friendly alternative to traditional EZ-B and camera setups while retaining full compatibility with Synthiam ARC.
  3. Versatile Applications: Suitable for robotics, home automation, surveillance, and other IoT projects requiring simultaneous video streaming and peripheral control.

Use Case Example:

This setup is perfect for robotic systems that require both camera feedback and precise control of servos or other peripherals. For instance:

  • A robotic arm with a camera for object recognition and manipulation.
  • A mobile robot with live video streaming and servo-driven navigation or gripper control.

By converting the ESP32 Cam into an EZ-B with an integrated camera, this firmware unlocks a versatile and efficient solution for advanced robotics and IoT applications.


  1. Install libraries into arduino ide: https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json

  2. Board manager install ESP32 by Espressif Systems

This project builds using...

  • Espressif Systems esp32 library version 3.0.7
  • ESP32Servo by Kevin Harrington version 3.0.6
Supported Capabilities
  • 12 Byte Unique Identifier
    Each controller has a unique identifier that can be referenced. This is to keep track in EZ-Builder projects which controller is being used and user logic specific to the ID.
  • ADC with 12 bit Resolution
    The ADC captures analog voltage at 8 bit resolution. This means the native value will be an 8 bit (0-4095) from the controller.
  • Can stream video v4 codec
    The controller supports the streaming Video v4 codec on a TCP or UART or USB connection.
  • Hardware UART TX/RX with DMA buffer and adjustable baud rate
    Contains 1 or more hardware UARTs with TX/RX functionality and DMA RX buffering.
  • Native WiFi Connectivity from ARC
    Controller supports WiFi connectivity using TCP between your computer with ARC.
  • PWM Duty on digital ports
    Digital ports can output a PWM between 0% and 100%.
  • PWM servos on digital ports
    The controller supports PWM Servos on digital ports. These are also called Hobby servos.
  • PWM servos on digital ports can release their position
    PWM servo driver on digital ports support the feature to release their holding position.
  • Read/Write Digital I/O Ports
    The ports marked as being digital will respond to Read and Write commands of boolean logic. The status of the digital port will be either TRUE or FALSE when voltage is detected or not, respectively.
  • Transmit Uart TX on all digital ports
    All digital ports support the ability to transmit (TX) serial/uart data at various pre-determined baud rates.

Version Information

  • Added editable definitions at the top of the ino source file for enabling/disabling features
Click to show supported capabilities
Supported Capabilities
  • 12 Byte Unique Identifier
    Each controller has a unique identifier that can be referenced. This is to keep track in EZ-Builder projects which controller is being used and user logic specific to the ID.
  • ADC with 12 bit Resolution
    The ADC captures analog voltage at 8 bit resolution. This means the native value will be an 8 bit (0-4095) from the controller.
  • Can stream video v4 codec
    The controller supports the streaming Video v4 codec on a TCP or UART or USB connection.
  • Hardware UART TX/RX with DMA buffer and adjustable baud rate
    Contains 1 or more hardware UARTs with TX/RX functionality and DMA RX buffering.
  • Native WiFi Connectivity from ARC
    Controller supports WiFi connectivity using TCP between your computer with ARC.
  • PWM Duty on digital ports
    Digital ports can output a PWM between 0% and 100%.
  • PWM servos on digital ports
    The controller supports PWM Servos on digital ports. These are also called Hobby servos.
  • PWM servos on digital ports can release their position
    PWM servo driver on digital ports support the feature to release their holding position.
  • Read/Write Digital I/O Ports
    The ports marked as being digital will respond to Read and Write commands of boolean logic. The status of the digital port will be either TRUE or FALSE when voltage is detected or not, respectively.
  • Transmit Uart TX on all digital ports
    All digital ports support the ability to transmit (TX) serial/uart data at various pre-determined baud rates.

Version Information

  • Increase the auto compression adjustment jump from 1 to 5 so it responds quicker.
Click to show supported capabilities
Supported Capabilities
  • 12 Byte Unique Identifier
    Each controller has a unique identifier that can be referenced. This is to keep track in EZ-Builder projects which controller is being used and user logic specific to the ID.
  • ADC with 12 bit Resolution
    The ADC captures analog voltage at 8 bit resolution. This means the native value will be an 8 bit (0-4095) from the controller.
  • Can stream video v4 codec
    The controller supports the streaming Video v4 codec on a TCP or UART or USB connection.
  • Hardware UART TX/RX with DMA buffer and adjustable baud rate
    Contains 1 or more hardware UARTs with TX/RX functionality and DMA RX buffering.
  • Native WiFi Connectivity from ARC
    Controller supports WiFi connectivity using TCP between your computer with ARC.
  • PWM Duty on digital ports
    Digital ports can output a PWM between 0% and 100%.
  • PWM servos on digital ports
    The controller supports PWM Servos on digital ports. These are also called Hobby servos.
  • PWM servos on digital ports can release their position
    PWM servo driver on digital ports support the feature to release their holding position.
  • Read/Write Digital I/O Ports
    The ports marked as being digital will respond to Read and Write commands of boolean logic. The status of the digital port will be either TRUE or FALSE when voltage is detected or not, respectively.
  • Transmit Uart TX on all digital ports
    All digital ports support the ability to transmit (TX) serial/uart data at various pre-determined baud rates.

Version Information

  • Works with servo & Camera at the same time
  • Added a note that the default IP address in AP Mode is (192.168.50.1)
Click to show supported capabilities
Supported Capabilities
  • 12 Byte Unique Identifier
    Each controller has a unique identifier that can be referenced. This is to keep track in EZ-Builder projects which controller is being used and user logic specific to the ID.
  • ADC with 12 bit Resolution
    The ADC captures analog voltage at 8 bit resolution. This means the native value will be an 8 bit (0-4095) from the controller.
  • Can stream video v4 codec
    The controller supports the streaming Video v4 codec on a TCP or UART or USB connection.
  • Hardware UART TX/RX with DMA buffer and adjustable baud rate
    Contains 1 or more hardware UARTs with TX/RX functionality and DMA RX buffering.
  • Native WiFi Connectivity from ARC
    Controller supports WiFi connectivity using TCP between your computer with ARC.
  • PWM Duty on digital ports
    Digital ports can output a PWM between 0% and 100%.
  • PWM servos on digital ports
    The controller supports PWM Servos on digital ports. These are also called Hobby servos.
  • PWM servos on digital ports can release their position
    PWM servo driver on digital ports support the feature to release their holding position.
  • Read/Write Digital I/O Ports
    The ports marked as being digital will respond to Read and Write commands of boolean logic. The status of the digital port will be either TRUE or FALSE when voltage is detected or not, respectively.
  • Transmit Uart TX on all digital ports
    All digital ports support the ability to transmit (TX) serial/uart data at various pre-determined baud rates.

Version Information

  • Works with servos & camera at the same time
Click to show supported capabilities
Supported Capabilities
  • 12 Byte Unique Identifier
    Each controller has a unique identifier that can be referenced. This is to keep track in EZ-Builder projects which controller is being used and user logic specific to the ID.
  • ADC with 12 bit Resolution
    The ADC captures analog voltage at 8 bit resolution. This means the native value will be an 8 bit (0-4095) from the controller.
  • Can stream video v4 codec
    The controller supports the streaming Video v4 codec on a TCP or UART or USB connection.
  • Hardware UART TX/RX with DMA buffer and adjustable baud rate
    Contains 1 or more hardware UARTs with TX/RX functionality and DMA RX buffering.
  • Native WiFi Connectivity from ARC
    Controller supports WiFi connectivity using TCP between your computer with ARC.
  • PWM Duty on digital ports
    Digital ports can output a PWM between 0% and 100%.
  • PWM servos on digital ports
    The controller supports PWM Servos on digital ports. These are also called Hobby servos.
  • PWM servos on digital ports can release their position
    PWM servo driver on digital ports support the feature to release their holding position.
  • Read/Write Digital I/O Ports
    The ports marked as being digital will respond to Read and Write commands of boolean logic. The status of the digital port will be either TRUE or FALSE when voltage is detected or not, respectively.
  • Transmit Uart TX on all digital ports
    All digital ports support the ability to transmit (TX) serial/uart data at various pre-determined baud rates.

Version Information

  • added dynamic camera compression

  • mapped Dx to GPIOx (i.e. ARC D4 = GPIO4, which is the FLASH LED)

Click to show supported capabilities
Supported Capabilities
  • 12 Byte Unique Identifier
    Each controller has a unique identifier that can be referenced. This is to keep track in EZ-Builder projects which controller is being used and user logic specific to the ID.
  • ADC with 12 bit Resolution
    The ADC captures analog voltage at 8 bit resolution. This means the native value will be an 8 bit (0-4095) from the controller.
  • Can stream video v4 codec
    The controller supports the streaming Video v4 codec on a TCP or UART or USB connection.
  • Hardware UART TX/RX with DMA buffer and adjustable baud rate
    Contains 1 or more hardware UARTs with TX/RX functionality and DMA RX buffering.
  • Native WiFi Connectivity from ARC
    Controller supports WiFi connectivity using TCP between your computer with ARC.
  • PWM Duty on digital ports
    Digital ports can output a PWM between 0% and 100%.
  • PWM servos on digital ports
    The controller supports PWM Servos on digital ports. These are also called Hobby servos.
  • PWM servos on digital ports can release their position
    PWM servo driver on digital ports support the feature to release their holding position.
  • Read/Write Digital I/O Ports
    The ports marked as being digital will respond to Read and Write commands of boolean logic. The status of the digital port will be either TRUE or FALSE when voltage is detected or not, respectively.
  • Transmit Uart TX on all digital ports
    All digital ports support the ability to transmit (TX) serial/uart data at various pre-determined baud rates.

Version Information

  • First check-in of the ESP32 Cam firmware

*Note: For servo use with EZ-Cam, only pins 2,4,12-19,21-23,25-27,32-33 are recommended.

Click to show supported capabilities
Supported Capabilities
  • 12 Byte Unique Identifier
    Each controller has a unique identifier that can be referenced. This is to keep track in EZ-Builder projects which controller is being used and user logic specific to the ID.
  • ADC with 12 bit Resolution
    The ADC captures analog voltage at 8 bit resolution. This means the native value will be an 8 bit (0-4095) from the controller.
  • Can stream video v4 codec
    The controller supports the streaming Video v4 codec on a TCP or UART or USB connection.
  • Hardware UART TX/RX with DMA buffer and adjustable baud rate
    Contains 1 or more hardware UARTs with TX/RX functionality and DMA RX buffering.
  • Native WiFi Connectivity from ARC
    Controller supports WiFi connectivity using TCP between your computer with ARC.
  • PWM Duty on digital ports
    Digital ports can output a PWM between 0% and 100%.
  • PWM servos on digital ports
    The controller supports PWM Servos on digital ports. These are also called Hobby servos.
  • PWM servos on digital ports can release their position
    PWM servo driver on digital ports support the feature to release their holding position.
  • Read/Write Digital I/O Ports
    The ports marked as being digital will respond to Read and Write commands of boolean logic. The status of the digital port will be either TRUE or FALSE when voltage is detected or not, respectively.
  • Transmit Uart TX on all digital ports
    All digital ports support the ability to transmit (TX) serial/uart data at various pre-determined baud rates.

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PRO
Synthiam
#41  

I think what would help is a better way to I’d identify the mapping of ports. I wanted d0 to be gpio0, for example.

a breakout with an led on each gpio. And without the camera running, turn on each io to find the mapping correlation.

I can’t seem to find a mapping document online though. Seems like someone must have thought of this you’d think?

PRO
Synthiam
#42  

Updated with new version that has dynamic camera quality and mapped gpio correctly

Digital ports work fine (on/off), Read

Also, D4 == FLASH LED

Servo still doesn't work - seems the servo library uses resources of the camera. Needs more look'n at

PRO
Synthiam
#43  

Updated to work with servos and camera at the same time

PRO
Canada
#44   — Edited

Hi Thanks for this, Ports D2, D12, D13, D14, D15 all work now with a servo. D4 also works but only with flash :-) D0, D1, D3, D16 don't work but thats fine.  5 is great and we still have TX RX

Questions I have some servo's that work on the ESP32  but don't work on ESP32-CAM? I copied the ESP32 servo and pwm files over to ESP32-CAM but still same problem. I officially hate this module.

The Camera distortion takes a while to recover would it be a better option to put in ranges Example If image size is > 5000 and < 5999 compression =10 If image size is > 6000 and < 6999 compression = 12 etc this way it recovers straight away and doesn't increment 1 at a time. When my camera looks at a solid image and moves to a complex image it takes a while to recover and when it goes the other way it takes a while to get the best quality again.

Thanks again I really appreciate you making this.  Nink

PRO
USA
#45   — Edited

Ez Esp32 cam v4  works good also with Arc

PRO
Synthiam
#46   — Edited

@Nink great to hear it works. Probably a better idea to increase the step from 1 to 5 or something. It's impossible to relate a compression value to image sizes.

Also, feel free to modify the code in the firmware. You can upload your own firmware for the esp32 as well. Just go to your account and click My Content -> Firmwares -> Create a Firmware

If it's based on my firmware, check the capabilities that are the same in my firmware. Just add the same ones and you'll be golden.