Vision System for remote monitoring?

Does anyone know if it’s possible to connect a camera and machine vision system implemented using a Raspberry Pi for remote monitoring and automatic shut off if anyone (or anything) comes close to the spindle while it’s running?

Octopi, octoprint

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You really really really should never ever leave a CNC running alone ever. Fire is 100% a possibility and has been a reality.

Thanks, I don’t intend on ever leaving it running alone. But thought it might be a cool project to implement vision as a safety aspect. Have it detect if anyone sticks their fingers too close to it while it’s running. Now that you’e mentioned it, it might be a good idea to have a fire detection setting too as an added safety feature.

The commercial routers have a beam running across the cutter side of the gantry. If you break the beam it stops.

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This would be much simpler.

Having a pi capture images and post them to a web page, or create a timelapse is one thing, but having it consume that imagery and detect something near the spindle would be pretty hard. Many of the software projects related to the MPCNC are about 1000x easier than this. It’s not impossible, but it’s not just “apt-get install safety”.

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Have to agree with Jeffeb3… Making a light curtain with LED’s and photodetectors would be much simpler and more reliable. If developing a machine vision algorithm is a project you would just like to do, then by all means, you should do it to it. But, be forewarned that this is not trivial and it goes without saying that the safety of others will be depending on how well it is done. With that said, I’d love to see it in action when you get it working. I’m still in awe of circular saws that can figure out when they’re about to cut off a finger and stop before they do it.