What USB camera to buy?

[Cheer4FTC]

Thanks for the update!

Have you done any testing on the MotoE4? Is its stability more like the ZTE Speed or the MotoG? I ask because, at this point, this phone seems like the cheapest available option for new phones (currently $50 at Boost Mobile for example).

[Cheer4FTC]

Is there any chance a cable like the one linked below could work? The cable with the data+power could be connected from webcam to phone while the power-only cable could be connected to the MR CPDM to provide more to the camera.

https://www.amazon.com/HIGHROCK-Enha.../dp/B00NIGO4NM

[Cheer4FTC]

One more question: will the software allow the use of both the on-phone camera and the UVC webcam at the same time, or only one at a time? If one, can they be switched during a match (say, use phone camera for autonomous and then UVC camera during teleop, or phone camera when picking up minerals and then UVC camera when placing them in the lander, etc), or no? Thanks in advance for any info you can provide!

[Cheer4FTC]

Is there any chance a cable like the one linked below could work? The cable with the data+power could be connected from webcam to phone while the power-only cable could be connected to the MR CPDM to provide more to the camera.

https://www.amazon.com/HIGHROCK-Enha.../dp/B00NIGO4NM

To clarify this: you'd need to plug this cable to get data+power from the phone to an unpowered USB hub and then the power-only end of the cable to the MR CPDM to give extra power to the unpowered USB hub. Then the unpowered USB hub could be connected to the webcam + Rev Controller (or conceivably to the webcam + back to the MR-CPDM so the data-path could get to the other MR controllers in an MR-only setup). Any chance this could work?

[4634 Programmer]

The Modern Robotics Core Power Distribution Module only supports USB 2 'full' speed (12Mbps) not 'high' speed (480Mbps); full speed is insufficient to support video streaming.

Oh right, I forgot about that. Well, perhaps you can convince them to allow this instead then: http://a.co/d/0DYdCss it is a powered USB hub that can take 7-24v external power, so we could power it from the main battery.

[Philbot]

One more question: will the software allow the use of both the on-phone camera and the UVC webcam at the same time, or only one at a time? If one, can they be switched during a match (say, use phone camera for autonomous and then UVC camera during teleop, or phone camera when picking up minerals and then UVC camera when placing them in the lander, etc), or no? Thanks in advance for any info you can provide!

Currently I know that you CAN use different camera sources for different opmodes (Teleop vs Auto) but I don't think that the intention is that you can switch them during a single opmode.
It may turn out to be possible, but that isn't how they are currently configured.... just like I don't think you can currently change from back to front camera in a single opmode now.

[Cheer4FTC]

Currently I know that you CAN use different camera sources for different opmodes (Teleop vs Auto) but I don't think that the intention is that you can switch them during a single opmode.
It may turn out to be possible, but that isn't how they are currently configured.... just like I don't think you can currently change from back to front camera in a single opmode now.

Thanks Phil. So I assume this also means that you can't run the Phone Camera and the webcam at the same time, yes?

[FTC0417]

You can only use one camera at a time.

But having that one camera be chosen at the start of the opmode is trivially easy. So using different cameras in autonomous and teleop is also trivially easy.

Switching the one camera that's in use on the fly while Vuforia is running is actually indeed possible, but a good deal very more complicated (under the covers it tears down one streaming session and starts another whenever you switch). How important do you think that scenario is?

[4634 Programmer]

You can only use one camera at a time.

Why so? I understand that limitation for the two phone cameras, as the SOC in most phones only has a single DSP (the only phone I know of that supports this is the Nexus 6P), but a UVC camera shouldn't require the use of a DSP..... so I guess I'm a bit confused where that limitation comes from.

[4634 Programmer]

Whoops, I meant ISPs not DSPs

[FTC12090]

Any chance we can get a living post up top that is updated with phones and cameras that have proven to work well with them?

[FTC0417]

@4634 : The one-camera-at-a-time thing is a Vuforia limitation for which I don't know the specific reasons but can imagine a handful of good ones. If you wanted to use multiple cameras independent of Vuforia (for whatever reason), that should indeed be possible.

@12090 : At this point in time, I don't know how to describe things more succinctly and accurately than the post I made two days ago.

[4634 Programmer]

@4634 : The one-camera-at-a-time thing is a Vuforia limitation for which I don't know the specific reasons but can imagine a handful of good ones. If you wanted to use multiple cameras independent of Vuforia (for whatever reason), that should indeed be possible.

Oh, you were simply saying that you couldn't use multiple at the same time with Vuforia, gotcha. As far as a reason to want to use another camera independent of Vuforia: OpenCV. Particularly for this year's game, using another camera with OpenCV could be really helpful for detecting the gold mineral in the sampling field.

[FTC0417]

@4634 : Understood. I'll note, though, that it's possible to get your hands on frames and pass them to OpenCV even while Vuforia is running. Fixit 3491, for example posted some examples of that in this forum in past years.

[4634 Programmer]

@4634 : Understood. I'll note, though, that it's possible to get your hands on frames and pass them to OpenCV even while Vuforia is running. Fixit 3491, for example posted some examples of that in this forum in past years.

Yes, I'm aware, and I know how to do it - but: while I'm fine with putting a webcam on a gimbal, I certainly don't want to put the phone on a gimbal......