This is my new found love for robotic vision. When it comes to robotics, I dream of a world without wires and cables to drag around. Last year ROBOCON magazine introduced a wireless mini wifi IP camera called AI Ball (English brand name). It is a cute little camera with a high price tag of 150 dollars when it first came out. Picture quality looks great but can’t afford it. I have been casually hunting for a good wireless video camera since then.
I have my eyes on Playmobil Spy Camera 4879 for a while now. It was meant to be an add-on for their R/C car play set but based on my frequent visit to Toys R Us, it doesn’t seem to sell well. The camera is wireless and the receiver is capable of feeding video to USB port in real-time with very low latency. It has everything I wanted. Recently, the set has a steep price drop in Toy’s R Us, the price went down to awesomely $39.99 from the original $125.99*. I bought a set to play with and so far it has been fantastic! It works great on MAC with Processing, despite the official Playmobil website stats the opposite. The picture quality is clear and sharp with 640×480 resolution and the best part for me is the shape of the camera looks just like a regular servo, perfect addition to my black Kendo KHR-3, happy accident!
*AI Ball dropped to 70 dollars without cradle recently also but still not low enough.
↓ AI Ball Mini Wifi Spy IP Camera without Cradle ↓ 
↓ Playmobil Spy Camera 4879 ↓ 
↓ Picture captured with Playmobil Spy Camera 4879 ↓ 
↓ Replaced the head with Playmobil Spy Camera! ↓ 