Camera controlled laser pointer question

devin0

Me and a group of friends are trying to make a laser pointer that tracks objects. I want to have the laser x,y controlled by servos. The basic stamp will be connected to my pc by serial, and i have a webcam connected by usb.One of my friends allready has a program running that lets me control the laser x,y by typing it into the pc. Can someone tell me how to do this or point me in the direction of information that will help?

Bill Chennault

devin0--

There will be a lot more people far more qualified than I that might respond to your question. But, I have thought of the same thing and done an experiment, or two.

A photocell (of some type) has no problem detecting one of my laser bore sights. It seems a matrix of photo-devices and a laser set off somewhere as a beacon, could easily detect the laser beacon and depending on which photo-device detected it, turn in that direction. When the beacon is lost, simply scan back and forth and up and down until it is re-found. (Beware the use of the word "simple" in the preceding sentence: nothing is simple.)

Good luck!

--Bill

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You are what you write.

SRLM

You'll want to figure out how far away the "plane" is that you'll designate with x,y coordinates. Then figure out how much each step is on a servo when pointing the laser, then make a formula to translate between x,y and pulsewidth.