MCAST School Project (Security Camera)

In this blog I will be sharing my progress making the security camera.

25th April: The Motor.

I first started by searching for possible motors for a potential camera. After some research I came across the a servo motor that is powerful enough to turn the camera at a smooth pace. The model is a futaba s3003, perfect for making precise movement.

Picture of the motor being used

1st May: Motor Movement.

After finding a suitable motor, I then began writing some sample code to move the motor left to right and right to left. After succeeding with this movement, I started implementing steps of 20 degrees, to move the camera left to right in a much smoother manner. Once movement was achieved using software, I needed to move the motor using keys on a keyboard. After about 2 hours of testing, I managed to get keyboard movement.

11th May: Mounting Platform Completed

Since there will be moving parts and the room for error is minimal, a “case” was designed to hold everything. The case consists of a top and bottom floor, with 4 wooden braces holding both floors together. Up on top the motor will sit facing downwards as the camera couldn’t reach the motor if it was facing up. Due to the camera basically hanging from the motor, a way to hold the camera to the motor was needed. After a bit of research, Velcro seemed like the perfect way to counter the problem. Two strips of Velcro were then purchased, with a small tape layer underneath it to stick the Velcro to the motor and camera. Below you will see how I applied the Velcro.

14th May: Program is refined and fully completed.

I went back to the code to see if there was any way that I can improve it, and there sure was. I realized that once the program was launched, there were no instructions on how to control the motor at all. I also found out that when the motor turned to the right, instead of it maxing out and printing that there were no more rotations right, it turned right anyway, resulting in the motor jamming completely. This was quickly fixed, and right after the fix instructions were added.

19th May: Test run before deadline.

I tested each and every individual piece and made sure that it worked according to plan, which did with no issues whatsoever. Everything was then placed together and the security camera was then tested.