Control APP ( freely available at GOOGLE Play and Apple Store):
Depending on your set-up you will need to adjust the RAIL LENGTH value: measure the total length of the rail the carriage can travel on. For example, if you are using 1000 mm metal bars, the available rail for the carriage would be around 800 mm (1000 mm minus the piece of rail inserted into the lateral supports).
In order to control the CAMERA SLIDER you will have to:
- Connect the Arduino Leonardo to any DC power supply (from 9 to 12 V). With the KIT we supply a 12V 1A power supply or a battery holder (9V)
- Wait 5-10 seconds for the robot to create a WIFI Network (called JJROBOTSXX)
- Connect your smartphone to that WIFI Network using the password: 87654321
- Then start the control APP (CAMERA SLIDER APP). NOTE: if you are not already connected to the robot´s WIFI NETWORK, the APP will let you know that
- Move the carriage (the plate where your camera/smartphone is attached to) to the motor´s end (see image below). From there, the camera/smartphone should be pointing to the side indicated in the scheme below. That would be the “filming side” for the CAMERA SLIDER
- For a tracking object travel, the camera has to be pointing to the target object. To the center of the object to be filmed. The robot will keep orientating the camera to that point during the travel on the rail
- Configure the control values as desired according to your needs. How to do it:
The APP needs to know where the object to be filmed is according to the initial camera position. So you will have to provide 2 values:
- OBJECT-RAIL DISTANCE (Y): the distance from the center of the object and the imaginary point between the two bars of the rail (in mm)
- CAMERA-OBJECT DISTANCE (X): The distance from the center of the camera platform to the point where a perpendicular imaginary line from the object meets the rail
NOTE: You do not have to place the camera platform by the very end of the rail, you can start from anywhere.
The RAIL LENGTH value, will let the APP know how long the camera carriage will travel before start coming back to the original location. This value does not have to be the real length of the rail, just the segment in which the camera will swing back and forward continuously. Take a look at the image below: you can set the RAIL LENGTH value equal to 400 mm even when the REAL length of the rail is longer. Doing this, the camera travel will be restricted within a virtual rail of 400 mm. Keep in mind that the camera has to be pointing to the object before starting to move to track it correctly
CONTROL APP MAIN SCREEN
(CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)
NOTE: Using the DELAYED START option you will have enough time to configure the CAMERA SLIDER ,START it and place the smartphone on the moving platform
Useful LINKS:
Control APP link (Google Play)