I bought a $35 backup camera/display to solve that problem, then discovered that the display contained an AMT630A video processor with a surprisingly capable OSD system. That sent me down a rabbit hole of I2C probing, firmware dumping, register tracing, custom graphics, bitmap formats, hidden factory menus, and eventually figuring out how to use an ESP32 to generate a programmable HUD over the live composite video.
I ended up turning what I learned into an Arduino library, which I've released on GitHub. It supports built-in and custom fonts, multiple OSD windows, 16-color bitmaps, palettes, transparency, and animation. It can also be used with composite video sources other than the camera.
The library and code are here: https://github.com/mogrinz/AMT630A
You can also install directly from the Arduino IDE Library Manager (search for AMT630A)
netsharc 3 hours ago [-]
Hah, the video is more exciting than the readme, IMO an image of the robot in the readme would be attention-getting.
The setup I bought only has one camera but the AMT supports up to 3 separate composite sources (I did not add switching to the library yet b/c I couldn’t test this). It looks like split-screen is supported also. For now, I am adding some simple sensors to the back of the suit and triggering an on-screen pop-up when something is behind me
jakzurr 48 minutes ago [-]
Holy smokes I like that. Maybe it will catch on, I dunno.
netsharc 21 minutes ago [-]
Cameras are rear view mirrors? Audi e-trons have them, they're also available as option on Hyundai Ioniqs. But apparently it's unlawful to not have physical side mirrors in North America...
jakzurr 23 minutes ago [-]
About 12 minutes into the first vid, the thought struck me: How will the EMT's react to a guy stuck halfway inside a Robby the Robot suit?
keanebean86 8 minutes ago [-]
"can we legally post the teardown video of this to hacker news?"
theamk 3 hours ago [-]
Neat!
Can you add the pictures of your setup? Display, soldered wires, some overlays?
(sorry if they in the video - I generally don't watch the videos before reading the text first)
aaronblohowiak 3 hours ago [-]
the video goes into a lot of this. it is far above average YouTube quality.
3 hours ago [-]
Retr0id 3 hours ago [-]
Heads up, your youtube link has a tracking ID in it that is bound to the account/device you shared the link from.
genxy 3 hours ago [-]
This video on the device itself (from the readme), not about the robot suit itself.
Classic bit of reverse engineering. I love how detailed your readme is.
BugsJustFindMe 3 hours ago [-]
Title nit: "backup" means a second copy, "back up" is the verb phrase for moving backwards. Verb phrases get hyphenated for clarity when used as adjectives immediately preceding a noun. So this should be "back-up camera", not "backup camera".
john_strinlai 1 hours ago [-]
"backup camera", no hyphen or space, is at least popular enough to have a wikipedia entry.
it's safe to say that "backup camera" is perfectly acceptable.
Steve44 2 hours ago [-]
I think this may be a case of language evolving/devolving and quite possibly an Americanism.
I'm British and to me backup means having a reserve or spare ready to use. You have a battery backup on your servers to step in when there is a mains problem, a photographer will have a backup camera, you backup you files regularly etc.
We would call this a reversing camera, for when you reverse your car using the Reverse gear. You can back into a parking space, or even just back up a little bit into a better spot.
One thing I'm seeing which irritates me is people are starting to call backing singers backup singers. They are not a backup the the lead singer, that would be an understudy, they are supporting like the backing on picture.
justin66 19 minutes ago [-]
> One thing I'm seeing which irritates me is people are starting to call backing singers backup singers.
Rolling Stone magazine has been using the phrase "backup singer" for a genuinely long time.
Fwiw, I used the same phrasing in my title as the product I bought on Amazon. Most of these are made (and packaged) in China: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=backup+camera
A search for “reverse camera” only returns “backup camera”s
Rendered at 20:10:46 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
I bought a $35 backup camera/display to solve that problem, then discovered that the display contained an AMT630A video processor with a surprisingly capable OSD system. That sent me down a rabbit hole of I2C probing, firmware dumping, register tracing, custom graphics, bitmap formats, hidden factory menus, and eventually figuring out how to use an ESP32 to generate a programmable HUD over the live composite video.
I ended up turning what I learned into an Arduino library, which I've released on GitHub. It supports built-in and custom fonts, multiple OSD windows, 16-color bitmaps, palettes, transparency, and animation. It can also be used with composite video sources other than the camera.
The library and code are here: https://github.com/mogrinz/AMT630A You can also install directly from the Arduino IDE Library Manager (search for AMT630A)
Would "rear view mirrors" help navigation in the suit? So 2 extra displays that would give you a view of what's over your shoulder, like on some cars nowadays (for example): https://www.carscoops.com/2022/02/heres-what-you-wanted-to-k...
(sorry if they in the video - I generally don't watch the videos before reading the text first)
How I See from Inside Robby — AMT630A Heads-Up Display https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eQ94DHOay0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup_camera
it is also used very regularly elsewhere, like government sites: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle-safety/driver-assistance-techn...
or legal advice sites: https://thelegalguide.org/are-backup-cameras-required-all-ca...
or news sites: https://abcnews.com/US/cars-us-now-required-backup-cameras/s... https://www.reuters.com/article/business/consumer-groups-sue...
or automotive magazines: https://www.autoweek.com/news/a1892066/feds-backup-cameras-a... https://www.caranddriver.com/car-accessories/g44411856/best-...
it's safe to say that "backup camera" is perfectly acceptable.
I'm British and to me backup means having a reserve or spare ready to use. You have a battery backup on your servers to step in when there is a mains problem, a photographer will have a backup camera, you backup you files regularly etc.
We would call this a reversing camera, for when you reverse your car using the Reverse gear. You can back into a parking space, or even just back up a little bit into a better spot.
One thing I'm seeing which irritates me is people are starting to call backing singers backup singers. They are not a backup the the lead singer, that would be an understudy, they are supporting like the backing on picture.
Rolling Stone magazine has been using the phrase "backup singer" for a genuinely long time.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dylan-gets-gos...