IGG Pet Camera

[Khendrask]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/playdate-world-s-first-pet-camera-in-a-smart-ball/x/13639189#/story

Okay, I give up.  How does the camera always stay focused, stable, and pointed at the pet?

[Leopoldo]

It probably doesn't. It can't be always in focus, it must be set to infinity; stability is probably achieved with either image stabilization, being on smooth surfaces or both at the same time. Finally, it probably doesn't follow the pet, the user simply is able to rotate the camera; it would require a lot of effort to have a tracker for animal faces; maybe it could be using some sort of sound tracking, but it would be worthless with pets that do not emit sounds. The only task that the ball is capable of performing is keeping itself pointed upwards by using a counterweight on the bottom of the ball while rolling around. It moves just because it has 2 wheels under the sphere inside the shell.

[scanlime]

I'm surprised they're claiming to offer replaceable shells.. I'd be curious to see the joint that holds the shell together strongly, keeps orientation of all the right parts, has a smooth internal surface for the rollers, and is easy to open and close.

[Frank_22]

It's more a toy for making funny home videos, than a fully-functional camera. So it's good as it is! 

[station240]

Those videos are so fake!

Step 1: Film pet from camera attached to wheeled vehicle, eg RC car
Step 2: Give pet silly camera ball to roll around

Claim both pieces are the same thing from different angles, while completely ignoring the fact we can all see the camera rolling around.

Didn't expect much given it's an IGG project

[Kilrah]

Focused: Fix focus wide angle lens, like pretty much every action cam.

"Stabilization" or rather looking mostly in the right direction, done the same way as these:



Pointing at the pet, well you probably do that yourself through steering.

So basically the same as the Sphero toys, just with a camera inside. Nothing complex.