The Cat Cam

So, we're sitting around last night talking about what the cat does when we're not around during the day. I've always been curious. So, I found this cool little program that connects to my old webcam and streams video ... -ish images to a web server. Well, I have a webserver set up on my main PC, so I'm thinking "hey cool!"

I get out the ole webcam, hook it up to my laptop, wirelessly stream the video from my laptop to the web server (on my main PC) over the wireless network, and voila! Live video feed of our living room.

That's all well and cool and everything, but the trouble is that the camera isn't always pointing to where the cat is. Granted, he's probably just asleep all day anyway. But that's beside the point.

So I'm thinking today "How cool would it be to be able to control the camera?"

Well, controllable webcams run around 200 dollars (minimum), so that's a bit out of the question for such a semi-pointless endeavor. However, I started looking today and found out that I could BUILD MY OWN stand to mount the camera on so that I can control it's direction. How cool is that? All I need is a couple of servo motors (one for left to right, one for up and down), a quick little Serial (or USB) Servo Controller to connect to the PC, and BAM. Instant control of the servo motors. All for around 60 bucks. Not too shabby. And, I'll learn how to build a stand that I can remotely control.

Then, I'll just have to figure out some way to allow me to control it over the internet, but since I'm a programmer, I don't really doubt my ability to do that. I can't wait, it should be fun. I'm totally going to try.

So, I'll have pics coming soon! I hope. Lol. Still gotta order the parts. :/ :)