CamRo is a robot that captures awesome product videos at the touch of a button

Presentation is always important — even in the maker community. Nice photos and videos get people in the door and technical achievements keep them around. But recording nice videos can be difficult, which is why Cameron Coward developed this robot, called CamRo, to do the work for him.

CamRo is a portmanteau of “camera” and “robot,” which describes this machine’s purpose. It exists to record videos of relatively small objects, like the electronic devices Coward often builds. Those objects rest on the robot’s circular table, which rotates. As that rotates, the camera swings around the table on a motorized arm. Throw in some editing tricks and you get some exciting video.

Both the table and the arm move under the power of CubeMars AK-series robotic actuators, which have built-in controllers and planetary gearboxes. An Arduino UNO R4 Minima controls those through a CAN Bus transceiver on a custom shield. The shield also supports the Arduino UNO R4 WiFi, creating the potential for more advanced control. 

The user sets the parameters for a shot through a simple control panel consisting of three potentiometers and two buttons. The potentiometer positions determine the arm angle, the arm speed, the table rotation direction, and the table speed. One button initiates a sensorless homing sequence after startup and the other starts the movement for the shot.

Building CamRo, however, does require several fabrication techniques. Those include CNC-milling, manual milling, manual turning on a lathe, welding, and 3D printing. But the result is a strong robot that can easily carry heavy professional DSLR and mirrorless cameras, in order to record compelling product videos.