Fast Lock On - FLO

FLO is a method for videography using a camera system that automatically moves to follow the subject.

FLO is described in the following publication:

Vo-Doan TT, Titov VV, Harrap MJM, Lochner S, Straw AD. High Resolution Outdoor Videography of Insects Using Fast Lock-On Tracking. Science Robotics 9(95), eadm7689 (2024) Free-access link DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adm7689.

What is in this repository

This repository contains the source code for the primary FLO executable, called flo. flo is written in the Rust language. flo receives image coordinates from Strand Cam imops and controls motors. This is the main, high-level FLO program.

Other FLO-related repositories

• https://github.com/strawlab/flo-data-analysis data analysis for FLO data
• https://github.com/strawlab/flo-hardware build instructions and manual for the FLO BYO-camera insect tracking/filming setup.
• https://github.com/strawlab/red-button-trigger-timestamp hardware to record times of external trigger events.

Overview of multiple pieces when using PWM servo motors

Other variants trade rpipico-pantilt and the PWM servo motors for other types of motors, such as Trinamic stepper motors or SimpleBGC gimbal motors. Strand Camera is available here.

+-------------+
|             |         HTTP
|   FLO UI    +<----------------------+
|    (browser)|                       |
+-------------+                       |
                                      v
+-----------------------+      +-------------+     +-----------------+
|                       | UDP  |             | USB |                 |
| Strand Camera `imops` +----->|    flo      +<--->| rpipico-pantilt |
|                   (PC)|      |         (PC)|     |        (RP Pico)|
+-----------------------+      +-------------+     +-------+---------+
            ^                                              |
            |                                              |
            |                                              |
            |                                              v
       +----+---+                                      +--------+
       |        |                                      | PWM    |
       | camera |<-------------------------------------+ servo  |
       |        |                                      | motors |
       +--------+                                      +--------+

(Ascii art made with http://asciiflow.com/ )

Overview of top-level directories

• crates Rust crates (libraries) used by flo and other software
• firmware/beamdriver Firmware for IR LED source
• firmware/flo-tilta-dongle Firmware for USB dongle to control Tilta motors.
• firmware/rpipico-pantilt Firmware for RPi Pico to control PWM servo motors.
• src Rust source code for flo