Peekaboo Cam is an observational camera equipped with a coverable lens and a button for photo-taking. This is the open-source repository for the Peekaboo cam design. You can find instructions how to build or further develop the Peekaboo cam below.
We publish this open-source design as a companion to the DIS 2019 pictorial. The pictorial is a great read/browse/ponder and introduces why we designed Peekaboo, how we did it and what the first results of deploying were.
Please cite the pictorial as:
inproceedings{Cheng:2019:PCD:3322276.3323699,
author = {Cheng, Yu-Ting and Funk, Mathias and Tsai, Wenn-Chieh and Chen, Lin-Lin},
title = {Peekaboo Cam: Designing an Observational Camera for Home Ecologies Concerning Privacy},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference},
series = {DIS '19},
year = {2019},
isbn = {978-1-4503-5850-7},
location = {San Diego, CA, USA},
pages = {823--836},
numpages = {14},
url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3322276.3323699},
doi = {10.1145/3322276.3323699},
acmid = {3323699},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
keywords = {ecology of daily objects, home ethnography, observational camera, privacy, research product},
}
is an enthusiastic camera, taking photos automatically unless someone press the button to stop it.
Before taking photos, there will be a "Ding-Dong" sound emitted by the Peekaboo to notify inhabitants. The flag will be waved to indicate a time countdown. At this stage, inhabitants can decide to press the button disabling the function or move away from the camera's view.
is a lazy camera, only takes photos when someone press the button.
Whenever the "Ding-Dong" sound is played to signal the photo-capturing moment, the flag will also be raised. Inhabitants can decide whether to take a photo or not. If the trigger button is pressed, photo capturing is performed and then the flag is lowered. Even if there is no notification, inhabitants can always press the button to take photos.
The coverable lens is designed for preventing the leakage of personal information, and providing the security by visualising the state of the camera.
The button is designed for protecting personal privacy by providing manual control for people.
Box for main structure: lasercut/peekaboo_box_3mm_mdf.ai
The wall and rooftop to beautify the house lasercut/peekaboo_wall_rooftop_2mm_mdf.ai
Coverable shutter and flag stick lasercut/peekaboo_gadget_cover_flag_button_2mm_mdf.ai
- 1 Raspberry Pi 3 model B or 3 model B+ (note 1)
- 1 Raspberry Pi Compatible Camera 5MP V1.3
- 1 Raspberry Pi Wide Lens
- 1 Raspberry Pi Micro USB Power Supply - 5.1V 2.5A (1A won't work)
- 1 Push Button
- 1 Switch Button (for switching active and passive mode)
- 2 Servo Motors
- 1 Audio Amplifier (PAM8403)
- 2 Speakers 2W, 45mm
- 1 mini breadboard
We assume that you have acquired an SD card with the latest Raspbian operating system for your Raspberry Pi. The following steps can be executed either from a remote terminal (connect via SSH) or by connecting display, keybopard and mouse and directly working on the Raspberry Pi. After booting the Pi, open the command line and go:
Update the Pi to the newest software
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
Configuring GPIO
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install python-rpi.gpio python3-rpi.gpio
Install pygame
sudo pip3 install pygame
Install pigpio
sudo apt-get install pigpio
Run pigpiod on the boot (the pigpen daemon is super important. without this, pigpio won't run）
sudo systemctl enable pigpiod
(will enable it to auto-start on boot)
sudo systemctl start pigpiod
(will start it immediately)
sudo pigpiod
If you change your mind,
sudo systemctl disable pigpiod
will undo the start-up behaviour.
sudo systemctl stop pigpiod
will have an immediate effect.
Open the Raspberry Pi Configuration Tool from the main menu: Ensure the camera software is enabled: If it's not enabled, enable it and reboot your Pi to begin. Instructions here.
To take a still photo, type in this command:
raspistill -o testshot.jpg
Memory settings
sudo raspi-config
select: Advanced options -> Memory split -> and set at least 128MB
Some users report this message disappearing after changing the GPU memory allotment to 256MB from 128MB.
Open the terminal at the boot
To auto-start the terminal on boot, open this file with nano:
nano ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
Add this line to the end of the file:
@lxterminal
Save with CTRL-O and ENTER, close with CTRL-X and reboot with:
sudo reboot
(on Pi)
5V:
Servo motor for Flag to pin 5
Servo motor for Coverable Shutter to pin 15
3V:
Slide switch to pin 16
Push Button to pin 3
Create a folder for the software
mkdir /home/pi/timelapse
Copy the contents of the code directory on GitHub to the Pi:
Python scripts
- peekaboo.py (the main script to control everything)
- raiseflag.py (notification / control the flag)
- cameraclick.py (play the shutter sound camera.mp3)
- playsound.py (play the notification sound dingdong.mp3)
- mode_a.py (Passive mode)
- mode_b.py (Active mode)
- peekaboolooger.py (logs how users interact with the Peekaboo)
- peekaboologger.log (will be created automatically and logs all operations)
Sounds
- sounds/Camera.mp3
- sounds/dingdong.mp3
Auto run the peekaboo.py on the boot
sudo nano /home/pi/.bashrc
Go to the last line of the script and add:
echo Running at boot
sudo python /home/pi/timelapse/peekaboo.py
Reboot the Pi to test if everything is working
sudo reboot
Cron Job: Scheduling the notification time
sudo crontab -e
0 12 * * * python /home/pi/timelapse/peekaboo.py
1 12 * * * python /home/pi/timelapse/raiseflag.py
Each schedule should run two python scripts.
If the switch button is in mode a, peekaboo.py will run mode_a.py, and raiseflag.py. If the switch button is in mode b, peekaboo.py will run the mode_b.py, but the raiseflag.py will stop.