Looking for feedback/suggestions (New User)
MyITGuy
Posts: 2
For awhile now I've been looking for a ready to buy product but have been unable to find anything that fits my needs. After some searching, someone pointed me in the direction of the Propeller Platform, so I'm here to see your feedback/suggestions. (Please note, I have no experience working with electronics assembly itself, but am a quick learner).
The concept:
I have a computer repair location where someone is not always at the front counter to greet customers or etc. What I envision is a product that could detect direction of movement (Customers entering/exiting), which would trigger an audio and/or video to be played based on their direction. As an optional item, the product could include a sensor to detect if a person is at the front counter, if there is then the audio/video does not need to play.
This video is what put me on the track to this site:
http://revision3.com/tbhs/sanitizer
My thoughts were to use the Propeller Platform USB as the base
They haven't posted the parts list yet, and I didn't see anything comparable on this site until I came across the X-Band Motion Detector (I'm assuming I could detect the direction of movement based on the speed of oscillations (Increase or decrease after motion detected)
Then a sensor of some sort at the front counter to detect if someone is there (Ping Sensor or ?)
So far am I doing good?
The definite unknown I have is regarding the audio/video portion. Originally I was going to have the platform connected to a PC that could pickup on the events from the controller and take the appropriate actions, however I see that there are some boards capable of connecting to a display but some appear to be text only, while others say for gaming?
Is there a way that I could play a full-motion/color video that contains my regular advertising, that could be interrupted and have another video play when motion (Entry/Exit) is detected....all on the Propeller Platform, or should I continue my thought of interfacing with a PC?
As a final thought...if anyone is interested in taking on some contract work to build/program this device, feel free to PM me and I'll take it into consideration!
I look forward to any feedback/suggestions received!
The concept:
I have a computer repair location where someone is not always at the front counter to greet customers or etc. What I envision is a product that could detect direction of movement (Customers entering/exiting), which would trigger an audio and/or video to be played based on their direction. As an optional item, the product could include a sensor to detect if a person is at the front counter, if there is then the audio/video does not need to play.
This video is what put me on the track to this site:
http://revision3.com/tbhs/sanitizer
My thoughts were to use the Propeller Platform USB as the base
They haven't posted the parts list yet, and I didn't see anything comparable on this site until I came across the X-Band Motion Detector (I'm assuming I could detect the direction of movement based on the speed of oscillations (Increase or decrease after motion detected)
Then a sensor of some sort at the front counter to detect if someone is there (Ping Sensor or ?)
So far am I doing good?
The definite unknown I have is regarding the audio/video portion. Originally I was going to have the platform connected to a PC that could pickup on the events from the controller and take the appropriate actions, however I see that there are some boards capable of connecting to a display but some appear to be text only, while others say for gaming?
Is there a way that I could play a full-motion/color video that contains my regular advertising, that could be interrupted and have another video play when motion (Entry/Exit) is detected....all on the Propeller Platform, or should I continue my thought of interfacing with a PC?
As a final thought...if anyone is interested in taking on some contract work to build/program this device, feel free to PM me and I'll take it into consideration!
I look forward to any feedback/suggestions received!
Comments
welcome to the propeller-forum.
The propeller can create a VGA-video-signal but he can' t play a back a fullsize video. Not in any format.
So the propeller-board would be connected to a PC via USB and some additional software on the PC would control the
video-player. If the video-player can react on a IR-remote-control this would be an option too. Creating IR-remote signals
is possible with the propeller.
If one of these multimedia-playing harddiscs has a IR-remote control this could be used too.
For motion detection a sensor that can measure distance would be an option.
Another idea ist to have 3 or 4 light bars in the way from the door to the counter.
Depending on the switching sequence you can analyse the direction of the object crossing the light bars.
PIR-sensors with a well defined "eye-field" could be used too.
Can somebody who has experience with OpenCV could chime in? Is OpenCV capable of SURELY recognizing this kind of person moving?
best regards
Stefan
First welcome to the the Prop world. You probably would be best served if all of your video requirements were recorded on DVD and the player controlled by the prop. Using basic IR remote control run by the prop can change the DVD from playing one loop to any other in very short order. The prop can provide the cordination of the sensor data to determin the entering/leaving and assist personal at the counter. I would love to partner with you on such a project but not sure of your time requirements and my availability.
Jim
may be able to use it to play back video. I have an old Canon that
does a good job of this. It can record 640x480 video and play it
back using the composite audio/video cable that was supplied
with the camera.
You should be able to carefully open an old camera such as this
and use I/O pins to control the functions just as though you
were pressing the camera control buttons.
It's a crazy idea, but it might save you some time and $$$ :-)
Thank you all for the welcome!
Stefan, thanks for the confirmation on the VGA output. I thought that would be the case, but figured I better ask just to be on the safe side. I think I may stick with the PC ( as the driver for the video...only because the cost is negligible versus buying a DVD player and it can do so much more for me.
Do you happen to have any links to the light bars you mentioned?
Jim, the DVD player is a great idea (Both you and Stefan mentioned it)...if nothing else that is something I can fall back to. At the moment I would like to experiment with interacting with a PC...I can get mini-PC's for around $200 versus a DVD player that would be $40+, and the PC could do so much more (Thinking future uses here).
In regards to time-frame, the sooner the better for me but definitely understand the time constraints. I'll see if I can give it a shot on my own and if I run into a wall I'll post here, or look into working with you if needed.
Holly, good thought on reusing the equipment! Unfortunately I don't have any older camera's laying around =(
Thanks again for the welcome and I'm sure I'll be around some more as I dive into this project =D