The ESP32-Cam (WiFi) is a generic low cost module, I made a support board for it so it can take 2xAA lithium 4.2v batteries (with extra 5v regulator) or in this can below they can be replaced by a switch and a 500ma fuse (3D printed). The Module anyhow accepts either 3.3V or 5V via the correct pins.

Of the Bat its a good idea to reprogram the ESP32-Cam with the generic CameraWebServer code, this code can be found directly from the Arduino-IDE ESP32 Dev Module folder :-

Reset the ESP32 with the Serial monitor live and it will give you the URL of the WebServer.

Copy past this to a Web Browser (Start the Stream) and presto the camera is live :-

MRL integration.

Hover over the Stream graphic and right click and select "Inspect Element", this will reveal the actual URL you need to use in MRL .

in my case.

http://192.168.1.113:81/stream

THE GMAN SHOUTS , ITS IMPORTANT TO SHUT DOWN THE WEB BROWSER BEFORE GOING FURTHER WITH MRL (esp32 server can only take one web connection at a time).

Fire up MRL :-

Start up an OpenCV service, select MJpeg from the dropdown list and paste your Stream URL into the URL input box. Press the Capture button and Presto.

Once in MRL the "World is your Oyster".

In my case I fired up Yolo from the filters and was able to enjoy the image recognition algorithms, luckily it detects birds :-)

hairygael

4 years 7 months ago

Wow, nice project!

I like also that you can integrate it into MRL.

I wonder if I could place 4 of these around my house on each corner to check if some wild bear is intruding my garden.

If you shop around there are versions of the ESP32-CAM with already a "Fish-Eye" lens installed.
There must be somewhere an openCV filter for decrypting a fish-eye view to flat plane.
It would mean less cameras in the Tophat.

I was really surprised how easy it was to link it together and to boot how stable the end result was.
Not sure if Yolo detects Bears, wolves or wild boars ... best to wind the confidence slider to zero ....