Robobot webcam server

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View camera

A motion camera ser is installed called "motion", it can detect motion and save video-clip, if motion is detected.

Motion detection is the primary purpose, but being able to see what the camera sees.

Configuration file

Edit the configuration file

$ sudo nano /etc/motion/motion.conf

# File to write log messages into.  If not defined, stderr and syslog are used.
log_file /home/local/.motion/motion.log
# Target directory for pictures, snapshots and movies
target_dir /home/local/Video/motion
# Video device (e.g. /dev/video0) to be used for capturing.
videodevice /dev/video0
# The port number for the live stream.
stream_port 8081
# Restrict stream connections to the localhost (if 'stream_localhost on').
stream_localhost off
# Image width in pixels.
width 640
# Image height in pixels.
height 480
# Maximum number of frames to be captured per second.
framerate 5

run motion

To run the streamer, SSH to the robot and start motion

$ motion
[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] conf_load: Processing thread 0 - config file /etc/motion/motion.conf
[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Logging to file (/home/local/.motion/motion.log)

Stop by ctrl-C

Note! Remember to stop the streamer before using the camera for other purposes. There is an alternative if you want both:

Start a loopback feature to create a copy with the same information when the camera is opened. Run:

sudo modprobe v4l2loopback

When /dev/video0 is opened a /dev/video1 will be created (with the data determined by the first user).

- not tested much.

View the stream

To view the result, use a browser to the address of the robot and port 8081, e.g. if the robot has IP '10.197.218.248':

10.197.218.248:8081

You should now see a stream of default 640x480 at 5 FPS as default; more options are available in /etc/motion/motion.conf.

2024

Test a new method from https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-webcam-server/

Install:

sudo apt install autoconf automake build-essential pkgconf libtool git libzip-dev libjpeg-dev gettext libmicrohttpd-dev libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev libavdevice-dev default-libmysqlclient-dev libpq-dev libsqlite3-dev libwebp-dev libcamera-v4l2

sudo wget https://github.com/Motion-Project/motion/releases/download/release-4.6.0/$(lsb_release -cs)_motion_4.6.0-1_$(dpkg --print-architecture).deb

sudo dpkg -i $(lsb_release -cs)_motion_4.6.0-1_$(dpkg --print-architecture).deb

change the /etc/motion/motion.conf

• not much luck; it seems not compatible with libcamera.

installed

sudo apt install libqt5dxcb-plugin

to try

rpicam-vid --qt-preview

But (also) not over ssh -X login