The Hardware Behind RaspCam

The Google Assistant Security Camera

What's The Main Idea?

The main hardware implementation of RaspCam was accomplished using the Raspberry Pi 3, the Raspberry Pi Camera, and the Adafruit Speaker Bonnet. In order to handle larger amounts of data, the RaspCam was fitted with a microSD card of 64GB. It is recommended that someone trying to recreate this project use a microSD card of 8GB or more. The USB microphone that was supplied with the Raspberry Pi Zero W kit was used for speech recognition and voice input. The RaspCam is also portable, powered by four AA batteries. In addition to the Raspberry Pi kits and parts, the RaspCam creators used the microcontroller's HDMI capabilities to program and debug.

Parts List

  1. Raspberry Pi 3 or Raspberry Pi Zero W
  2. 8GB (or larger) microSD card
  3. USB microphone
  4. 4 AA batteries
  5. Adafruit Speaker Bonnet for Raspberry Pi
  6. Raspberry Pi Camera V2

Hardware Setup: Raspberry Pi, Camera and Adafruit Speaker Bonnet

  1. Format your microSD using a freeware such as SD Formatter. Note: If using a an SD card larger than 32GB (SDXC card), you will need to format it with the exFAT filesystem. See further details here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/sdxc_formatting.md
  2. Create a NOOBS (New Out Of Box Software) boot disk by downloading a large zip file with NOOBS (not NOOBS lite!) with the RASBIAN disk image file to the 8GB (or larger) uSD card using your PC: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/
  3. Unzip the contents of the zip file onto the microSD card and insert it into the Raspberry Pi 3.
  4. Plug a USB keyboard, mouse and microphone into any of the USB ports.
  5. Connect the Pi to a HDMI supported monitor and proceed with the install of the Raspbian OS.
  6. Once the OS install is completed, click on the Raspberry Menu icon and select “Raspberry Pi Configuration” under the “Preferences” tab.
  7. When the configuration window appears, click on the Localisation tab
  8. Set your location by clicking on “Set Locale”
  9. Set your local time by clicking on “Set timezone”
  10. Set your keyboard language by clicking on “Set Keyboard”
  11. When done, acknowledge the reboot request.
  12. Upon boot, follow the instructions on this link to set up the Raspberry Pi Camera: https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/16021420-how-to-install-use-the-raspberry-pi-camera
  13. Once done, follow the instructions on this link to set up the Adafruit Speaker Bonnet: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-speaker-bonnet-for-raspberry-pi/overview