I work for a small company that buys pc's and pc peripherals, repairs pc's and pc peripherals, and then resells the stuff that can be salvaged/repaired/reconditioned. We also install small to medium networks.
We have recently gotten involved in selling and installing pc based security cameras that can be viewed from anywhere on the internet. The most common request we get from our customers is cameras that can pan, but when we tell them the cost of such cameras, that's usually the end of that.
Given the business we are in, I pretty much have an unlimited supply of small to medium DC motors that I can take from printers and hard drives. I'm not worried about working out the mechanics of mounting the motors and figuring out gearing and such, but what would be involved in getting these things to respond to signals coming from the internet? I'm very familiar network protocols, packets and such, but not so much the technology used to decode and interpret packets.
My knowledge in electronics is limited at this point, but is growing everyday, I'm just now getting into learning assembly and micro controller programming. If I can figure out a way to do this, I could easily demand more money at work, so this is not something I'd give up on just because I needed to do some serious study to make it happen. I'm also pretty solid on java programming.
One Idea I've had:
Use a bluetooth transmitter connected to a pc, write a java program that would connect to a remote pc and send signals to a bluetooth receiver connected to a micro controller that would control the movement of the motor. I figure this would be possible to set up with my current knowledge and with a little learning, but I'm not sure the cost would be all that much less then buying motorized cameras in the first place. Also, this is not something I'm looking to mass produce, at most I would probably be called upon to do something like this every 3 to 4 months with 3 or 4 cameras.
Thanks for any help guys,
Keith
We have recently gotten involved in selling and installing pc based security cameras that can be viewed from anywhere on the internet. The most common request we get from our customers is cameras that can pan, but when we tell them the cost of such cameras, that's usually the end of that.
Given the business we are in, I pretty much have an unlimited supply of small to medium DC motors that I can take from printers and hard drives. I'm not worried about working out the mechanics of mounting the motors and figuring out gearing and such, but what would be involved in getting these things to respond to signals coming from the internet? I'm very familiar network protocols, packets and such, but not so much the technology used to decode and interpret packets.
My knowledge in electronics is limited at this point, but is growing everyday, I'm just now getting into learning assembly and micro controller programming. If I can figure out a way to do this, I could easily demand more money at work, so this is not something I'd give up on just because I needed to do some serious study to make it happen. I'm also pretty solid on java programming.
One Idea I've had:
Use a bluetooth transmitter connected to a pc, write a java program that would connect to a remote pc and send signals to a bluetooth receiver connected to a micro controller that would control the movement of the motor. I figure this would be possible to set up with my current knowledge and with a little learning, but I'm not sure the cost would be all that much less then buying motorized cameras in the first place. Also, this is not something I'm looking to mass produce, at most I would probably be called upon to do something like this every 3 to 4 months with 3 or 4 cameras.
Thanks for any help guys,
Keith
