Auto-Rotate Your Laptop With OpenCV

Hacker “SlightlyCyberneticVlogs” has come up with a method to have his laptop’s camera follow him around. This can be useful when filming himself, allowing the camera to look around the room, or even for a robot head project.

Hardware-wise, the “Robot Neck Swivel” isn’t too involved, with an Arduino and servo mounted inside what can best be described as a very tall 3D-printed Lazy Susan.

What is interesting about the build is that he uses OpenCV to calculate the centroid of what is moving around in front of the computer’s camera, adjusting the monitor’s view to face that moving person, animal, or perhaps robotic object.

If you’d like to create your own, you can try to hack out the code and mechanical design yourself, but he’s also selling that along with STL files and a guide for a “whopping” $1.50. Perhaps it’s worth a look!

[h/t Reddit]