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I have a camera with an API to turn and pan it. (Hangs from a ceiling so it can turn and pan every side)

I want to use the Raspberry Pi to control the panning and tilting based on where a device/sensor is (Too point the camera to it).

So when I have a unique device in my pocket the camera has to point at where the device is even when it's moving. What is worth to note I don't want to use the face recognition or something from the camera it self. Just a device/sensor to point out a "target" where to focus on.

I can't figure out how to do that...

I was thinking as putting the raspberry at the same position as the camera (underneath it for example) and take that as the 0 point. With Bluetooth proximity I can check how far someone is and try to measure the distance and change the pan/tilt on that but it doesn't sound like that would work.

Basically I wanted to know if someone knows what is the best way to do this ?

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  • There are commercial solutions. They are used by lecturers when videoing their classes so that the camera stays on them as they move around. I don't think they are alarmingly expensive. Unfortunately I can't think of the right search terms to find an example. You may have better luck.
    – joan
    Commented Sep 5, 2015 at 9:26
  • @joan I was thinking about indoor solutions like estimote or ibeacons they can pinpoint where you are in a room. But they will give a location based on the devices in the room... You need to translate those coordinates to pan and tilt movements.. Does this sound possible ?
    – MichaelAngelo
    Commented Sep 5, 2015 at 9:31
  • Yes, the solution I mentioned is for indoor use. I think the lecturer has an active tag which is triangulated and used to pan/tilt (or possibly just pan) the camera. If you can find the commercial product you might get enough information for your own solution.
    – joan
    Commented Sep 5, 2015 at 9:35
  • Perhaps you could use the Wiimote approach (IR camera receiver) and IR Sensor Bar. May even be able to strap a Wiimote to your Pi/camera, and communicate with it using the Pi. Then, keep the sensor bar on you (may or may not be able to see penetrate clothes). Anyway, may be a start as there are lots of Wii hacks out there, and you can probably get a used one cheap.
    – Brian
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 23:34

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As @joan suggested, you can look up existing solutions for recording lectures in google. I used keywords "lecture camera". From the results you get you can see that other good terms to use are "lock track" or "motion tracking".

There are different hardware/software solutions that you can experiment or be inspired from.

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