Each year, our robotics team hosts several large FLL and VEX robotics tournaments at BU. One important feature that we would like to implement in the near future is a live video stream from each of these events on our team’s youtube channel. We will be using the high definition video capture capabilities of one of these security cameras since they allow 1080P video to be uploaded to youtube with some simple transcoding in between instead of a expensive hardware encoder. Using this guide for RTSP to RTMP transcoding it is possible to use any RTSP capable IP camera to stream to youtube. Instead of setting up a poor wireless stream from a camera with wifi capabilities or utilizing a low-quality IP camera such as the Axis camera we currently use to stream video from our robot for analysis, this camera’s hd output will allow us to stream hd video to our youtube server. The addition of audio input, either from the video itself or from our tournament’s sound system, will make the stream more accessible and informative for those watching over the internet. We may then publicize our video stream by embedding it on the front page of our team’s website.
Another purpose for our camera would be to record video from our robot in hd quality. Although we currently use a low-quality IP camera for quick streaming and target detection, these high definition ip cameras would allow us to record onboard video separately, without interfering with our robot’s vision system or the other wifi signals on the field. By FRC competition rules, most cameras with wifi capabilities are not even allowed on the field, but this camera’s lack of a wifi streaming feature actually provides a huge benefit for us. Again, we may then be able to publish the onboard videos on our website and youtube channel. Often, onboard videos are very helpful in for training new robot drivers and demonstrating our robot’s capabilities. This camera would certainly be a significant and much-needed addition to our team’s inventory!
