1. Personal accomplishments for the week
1.1 Motorized camera slider and lighting
This week, I constructed the motorized camera slider and integrated the ring light. The slider uses a Nema 17 stepper motor that interfaces with the Raspberry Pi via a A4988 driver. I managed to calibrate the motor and found the optimum translation speeds as well as number of steps required to traverse the entire slider. Triggering a scan causes the motor to traverse and stop multiple times along the length of slider for the camera to capture photos for stitching. At the same time, the ring light activates until the scan is complete.
2. Progress status
I am slightly behind schedule as the motorized camera slider has not been integrated with the camera system yet. This is because the appropriate camera (ordered 2 weeks ago) has yet to arrive. The system also needs to be moved to a smaller breadboard once fully integrated. The cloud data transmission pipeline developed, while functional, still presents some reliability issues.
3. Goals for the upcoming week
- Add stable platform/baseplate mount to the camera slider