benbusby / Raztot

The RazTot is an easy DIY project that allows you to remotely control a roving security camera securely from your browser.

For a build guide with pictures, you can visit the imgur album for the project here.

!!! NOTE: The main branch of this project is currently being refactored and updated from the previous implementation, and not all features have been tested for functionality. If you would like to use a fully functioning release of the project, please use the python-raztot branch instead.

Browser Support (Latest Versions)

Edge	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	iOS Safari
✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️

Features

• Live video streaming with low (~0.5s) latency
• Server side video recording
• Client side image capture
• Servo control to move around with 360 degree turning capability
• Intuitive web app for controlling movement and video
• HTTPS connection (when configured with Dataplicity or a similar service)
  • Requires an active internet connection, and the RPi to be connected to your home network
  • Note: HTTPS is required to stream video from the device remotely, as WebRTC will not work in most modern browsers when streamed from regular HTTP. Keep this in mind if you use a service other than Dataplicity, or decide to spin up your own server.
• User authentication restricted streaming and controls

Parts

Total: ~$80-120, depending on parts

Can be made cheaper with a smaller/lower mAh batter, buying cheaper caster wheels, opting for the Raspberry Pi Zero, etc. I haven't tried a build with the Pi Zero, but I imagine it works about the same (though maybe a little slower).

Setup / Installation

Hardware Setup

Camera

To set up the camera, you just insert the non-camera end of the camera's ribbon cable into the connector between the HDMI and Ethernet ports (if not using the Pi Zero). There's a small tab you pull up on to allow the cable to slide into the connector, and then push back in once the cable is in place.

Once the camera is connected, run:

vcgencmd get_camera

You should see detected=1 in the output of the command if the camera was connected properly.

Wheels

The main component that needs setting up is the two servo wheels for the RazTot. This is pretty straightforward and just requires a few male->female jumper cables.

Each motor has three wires: ground, power, and signal. For the servos I purchased, the corresponding colors for these were brown, red, and yellow. If you purchased different servos, make sure to look up what the proper colors are on your model.

Take three jumper cables and plug the male side into the slots for each wire. With the female side of the cable, attach it to the correct GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi.

Using that pin layout, the power cable for each wheel should go in the top right two pins labelled "5V". The ground cables can go on any pin labelled "Ground" in that diagram. The signal cables can go to any of the BCM pins that don't have labels next to them in parentheses. Keep track of which wire is going where, otherwise the wheels probably won't work. Repeat for the other wheel and you're good to go!

Once you're done, you can run the test_motors.sh script in the utils/ folder to check if your motors are working properly. The script takes two arguments -- the two BCM pin numbers you plugged the signal cables into (i.e. 17 and 22).

./test_motors.sh 17 22

Note: You should have the motors positioned so that the wheel isn't in contact with a surface. Otherwise the wheels will roll around while they're being tested.

IMPORTANT!!!

If you don't use pins 17 and 22, you will need to make a small change to app/models/gpio.rb with the new left/right servo pin numbers. There are only two values to change in that file:

module SERVO_PINS
  LEFT = 17
  RIGHT = 22
end

Software Setup

To setup the RazTot software, power up your Raspberry Pi and run the following commands:

cd
git clone https://github.com/benbusby/raztot.git
cd raztot/config
./setup.sh

The setup script will determine what needs to be installed and walk you through each step of the process. It can take quite a while depending on your network speed, but is a mostly hands off process so you don't need to watch it the whole time.

At the end of the script you'll be prompted to create an account with dataplicity, since they provide the ability to host a website on the RazTot without having to mess around with your router at home. It also provides an https url to access the RazTot with, the domain doesn't change between bootups. I've been pretty satisfied with using dataplicity so far, since the service is free (at least for one device) and comes with a domain you can use rather than buying one yourself. If you'd rather just modify your router settings instead, however, there are plenty of guides online.

Once the script is done, you can run the command

cd ~/raztot
source run.sh local

anytime the Pi is powered on to start the Flask app, Janus server, and pigpio daemon whenever the Pi is powered on. If you set up an account with dataplicity, you can log into their web portal to view the domain that was assigned to your Pi. Navigating to that domain should bring you to the main app, where you can start using the RazTot.

Controls

• Streaming is controlled via the web app using the Start/Stop Stream button at the top of the web page.
• Image capture is done via the grey button with the camera icon just below the streaming window.
• Recording snippets of the stream can be accomplished using the red recording button below the stream once the stream is running.
• You can view a list of prior recordings, clear all recordings, and log out using the gear icon below the stream.
• Motion is achieved using the arrow keys on your keyboard, or by pressing the arrow key buttons on the web page. Each key will send a command to the RazTot to move wheels accordingly for whichever direction you are trying to navigate.

Images

For more images, see the Imgur album.

Credits

• RazTot logo by Ren Chu (Instagram)
• Special thanks to Meetecho/Janus Gateway