Pioreactor Webcam Recorder Plugin

A Pioreactor plugin for continuous webcam recording with HLS streaming support. This plugin enables automated video recording of your bioreactor experiments with configurable recording parameters and real-time streaming capabilities.

Installation

Install from the Pioreactor plugins web interface or the command line:

pio install-plugin pioreactor-webcam    # to install directly on the Pioreactor

# OR, on the leader's command line:

pios install-plugin pioreactor-webcam # to install on all Pioreactors in a cluster

Or install through the web interface (Plugins tab). This will install the plugin on all Pioreactors within the cluster.

Raspberry Pi Camera Setup

To get the camera working on a Raspberry Pi running the Pioreactor image, you may need to:

1. Enable camera autodetection by editing /boot/config.txt (add or uncomment camera_auto_detect=1)
2. Update to the latest firmware:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

3. Reboot the Pi after making these changes

Configuration

You can customize the webcam recorder settings by adding the following to your Pioreactor configuration:

[webcam_recorder.config]
save_dir=/home/pioreactor/data/camera
hls_dir=/var/www/pioreactorui/data
segment_duration_minutes=15
width=1920
height=1080
framerate=30
vflip=true

Usage

Through the command line:

pio run webcam_recorder

Through the UI:

Under Manage, there will be a new Activities option called Webcam Recorder. You can start/stop recording using the is_recording setting.

Features

• Continuous Recording: Records video in configurable segments (default 15 minutes)
• HLS Streaming: Provides real-time streaming via HTTP Live Streaming
• Configurable Parameters: Adjustable resolution, framerate, and recording duration
• Automatic File Management: Handles file naming with timestamps and cleanup
• Raspberry Pi Camera Support: Uses rpicam-vid for efficient video capture
• Background Job: Integrates with Pioreactor's job system with dodging support

Important Notes

• Viewing the Stream: If you're connected to the Tailscale network, you can view the live camera stream using VLC or any HLS-compatible player by opening: http://your-pioreactor-ip/data/webcam.m3u8. No UI changes are required for basic streaming functionality.
• Disk Space Warning: Video recording uses significant disk space. Monitor your storage regularly to prevent the disk from filling up. Consider implementing automatic cleanup of old recordings or using external storage for long-term archival

Plugin documentation

Documentation for plugins can be found on the Pioreactor docs.