Description (TIME SPENT: 33h and 45 mins)

title: Room Camera Sensor
author: Rimma
description: Security camera that is turned on by a motion sensor, records footage, and can be disabled through a special password system so the SD card doesn't get clogged with a bunch of videos of me. (more description in readme!)
created_at: 2025-07-02

July 6: LOTS of research on circuits and components!

I went to khanacademy and watched a bunch of videos in their electrical engineering section, since I wanted to be fully comfortable with working with different kinds of circuits, as well as have more information about current direction and voltage. I also did research about a lot of the components I'm planning on using, such as cameras, motion sensors, and the microcontroller. I'm thinking of using a raspberry pi 5 but I feel like that might be too expensive so I'll probably do more research on that too. I looked into YOLO since I want to incorporate object detection into my project, so I'll see how that works with other microcontrollers apart from the raspberry pi.

(ps: I don't know how to make links to my progress pictures so I'll be using imgur to add them!)

Total time spent: 3h

July 7: More research on components and began making schematic

I've found majority of the components that I am going to use today! I'm planning on making two parts of my project: the first part will allow a person who knows the pin (me) to enter it into a macropad sort of thing to disable the camera turning on/sending a notification to my phone. I'm planning to use an xiao rp2040 for it along with a distance sensor, and maybe an OLED if I have time to display the numbers pressed. This will be a pcb. The other part will be placed on the corner of my room made from a RaspberryPi Zero 2 with a camera module. I'm still trying to figure out how to make the xiao rp2040 send a remote signal to the raspi to turn it on/off, but I guess I can always do it with a wire...

Total time spent: 4h

July 14: Finishing pcb schematic + editor and planning location of parts

Ended up not doing much for like a week because of the squeak ysws but I did do some research about how to send the data from the xiao rp2040 (i was calling it esp32 this entire time so ill fix that in this commit lol) and I'm probably going to use KMK, though ill have to learn more about that. I finished the schematic of my number pad that I'll be mounting on the wall and arranged it in the pcb editor. it was kind of hard finding the right footprints for the diodes, but I think i figured them out. I added some fun silkscreen because why not (idc that itll be hidden by the 3d cover its my pcb). I also loosely sketched out a plan of where all the parts will be in situated in my room and what I want them all to do since my ideas have been kind of all over the place. I'll try to learn a bit more about programming on arduinos since i barely know anything and start making a basic outline for the code since I know i'll need that for the future.

Total time spent: 3h

July 14: Learning more about arduino programming

I did a little bit more research about the xiao rp2040 microcontroller and realized it doesn't support wifi/bluetooth and it would honestly be a pain to transmit data to the raspi. I decided to switch to the xiao esp32 which is quite close price wise, but it'll be easeir to connect to wifi which I'm happy about. I also began doing research about writing the firmware for the esp32, and I think I've begun to remember some basics about arduino. I began making a rough outline of what I will do for the code, and tested some on online simulations. I'm also considering not using a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 since there might be something a bit simpler out there. I'm willing to do some more research. Also considering adding an OLED screen to the numpad so that you can see which password is being written in. Not necessary but kind of a finishing touch if I have time!

Total time spent: 45 mins

July 17 & 18: Updating schematic with new components + beginning 3D case

I realized that the best way for me to approach this project would be to leave the code untill the end since Highway is technically a hardware ysws. So I ended up focusing a lot more on the physical components and decided to make the number pad a lot more interesting! I updated the schematic to have pin headers and pin sockets so that it would be easier to attatch the OLED and the pir motion sensor. It was kind of difficult to figure out which pins would go where (like the SCL and SDA), since so far I'd only been working with gpio pins. The routing took a little while and I wasn't sure if it would work since with the stuff I added everything started looking a lot messier. I posted pics of my schematic and pcb editor into slack and they got approved! I also realized that it would be a good idea to get myself some female to female wires into my list of materials so I wouldn't have to be forced to put the pir monitor right on top of the pcb. I started making the 3D case for the number pad, though fusion took a little while to set up since 1. I don't really make 3D models often, and 2. I used onshape last time. It actually wasn't that bad and I feel like I made some decent progress these past couple days!

Total time spent: 3h

July 19: Continuing 3D case and finding better parts

I finished the guide that was posted for hackpad so I could have an idea of what I was doing, and then I started making the 3d model of my number pad. The hardest part was probably making everything fit, since I have 12 keys on my numpad and I had to joint every single one of them along with the keycaps. Finding 3D models of everything was also quite challenging because some of the parts I sourced were hard to find replicas of. I also realized that AliExpress was probably a better place for me to source my parts, so I worked a little bit on making my BOM cheaper and choosing better components. The motion sensor in particular was hard to find since I didn't want one that would need > 3.3V energy (which is how much the esp32 can provide), and also making sure that it wasn't too big. When I imported the 3D model into fusion though, it overlapped slightly with the keys. It doesn't acutally touch them so it's not that big of a problem but it pisses me off so bad I'll have to fix it tomorrow T-T. Also with the new pir the GND and OUT pins are switched so I'll have to update my schematic for that too... hardware is hard guys. (uhh i looked at the model again and lwk idk if i want to fix the overlap with keys like i just spent an hour trying to center them fhwhfhewjfbjwebfdjed im so done with fusion)

Total time spent: 4h (me eyes hurty)

July 20, 21, a bit of 22: finished case, updated pcb, started raspi case, worked on bom

The overlap with the keys was REALLY bothering me so I went to update my schematic and change the location of the pir. After i did that, i realized that while i have the chance to update my pcb, it would be a good idea to find some more cost efficient components on aliexpress (i mostly had amazon and seeed studio on my component doc) since i could move around the pins if needed. I did end up finding a much cheaper motion sensor and oled on ali but i had to change the schematic and routing again since the gnd and out pins were flipped T-T. When i was done with that i finished making the case and fitted all the parts together. At first on the lid I had a design that rose slightly out of the case (by like a mm) but i realized that would be really annoying to print so i decided to put the design as an indent. I had to change the entire thickness of the top part after that since with the indentation i felt like some parts became way too thin. I also added little pegs on the lid so the pcb wouldn't move around too much when i mount it on the wall. Then I began working on the case for my raspi, which honestly feels a lot easier than the numpad one. I don't know how well it's going to print tho, since i added air holes in the sides for good ventilation... as i started working on that i realized it would be a good idea to look for a camera on aliexpress since i had to be 100% sure with what the sizing of the cam would be. i found one that i think would work but the welcome coupons on ali are weird so hopefully it doesn't end up costing more than the one i found on amazon. I'll continue to work on the raspi case and also maybe continue some of the firmware?

Total time spent: 4.5h

July 25: finished raspi case continued bom work

I took a little break to work on something else but today I managed to get quite a bit done! Firstly, I finished my raspi case and posted it into #highway so people could look over it and lmk if it could be printed. I was sort of hesitant about the bottom especially since it's slanted and theres little gaps for the usb openings, but everyone said it would be fine so yipee. I also played around a bit with the lighting on my 3D models for the sole purpose of making them look cool but I'll probably go with something else for the final submission since looking at them now they kinda look ugly lol. I continued working on the bom and I found some ways I could decrease the costs so that was also a little win for me :3. It took a while to find the right size screws and heat inserts for my number pad and raspi case but I'm hoping I got the measurements right. I think I'll finish the bom later today and start uploading all my files into my repo! I'm also saving a few days to finish the firmware and I've started to plan out (mentally lmao) how I'll make it work.

Total time spent: 3h

July 26 & 27: Fully finished bom, uploaded cad/pcb files

I fully finished the BOM today! It took a really long time to add everything up since I kept forgetting to consider taxes and shipping. I decided to use the welcome deal on my raspi cam since its the most expensive out of all my aliexpress items and I'll be using my dad's amazon acc to get the cherry mx switches since shipping is free (yay). It also took me a while to figure out which pcb and cad files I had to upload but I think I figured it out and I'm ready to start on the firmware! I think I'll use QMK since from what I've seen it's considered a holy grail in the keeb community. I think I won't do too much firmware for my raspi since I'd have to figure out how to get the wifi to work and that'll be hard without it in front of my physically.

Total time spent: 3h

July 31: Re-submission Changes

All changes I made for re-submission: -Got rid of the raspberry pi case and instead used an add on camera for the ESP32 -Changed the pcb size to make it cheaper -Changed all of the case models so the pcb could fit -Added an indent in the top of the case so the camera can have somewhere to sit -Changed the BOM to include all of the changes

Total time spent: 3.5h