ESP32-CAM Surveillance Car with Live Video Streaming and Wireless Control

In this project, you’ll learn how to build a Wi-Fi-controlled surveillance car using the ESP32-CAM module. It streams live grayscale video and can be controlled remotely from any smartphone or computer browser — no apps required!

Features

Live grayscale video stream over Wi-Fi
Web-based motor control interface (Forward, Backward, Left, Right, Stop)
Built with ESP32-CAM (low-cost, compact module)
Uses L298N or HW-130 motor driver
Control and view from any device on the same network

Components Required

Component	Quantity
ESP32-CAM module (AI Thinker)	1
FTDI USB-to-Serial Adapter	1
L298N or HW-130 Motor Driver	1
DC Geared Motors + Wheels	2
Chassis + Battery Holder	1
18650 Battery or 7.4V LiPo	1
Jumper Wires	Several
Optional: LEDs or buzzer	Optional

Circuit Diagram & Connections

Power:

ESP32-CAM powered via FTDI (for programming) and 5V regulator or battery
Motor Driver powered by separate battery (6–12V)

ESP32-CAM Camera Pins: (use as-is)

Motor Driver Wiring (L298N or HW-130)

ESP32-CAM GPIO	Motor Driver
GPIO 12	IN1
GPIO 13	IN2
GPIO 14	IN3
GPIO 15	IN4
5V	ENA (via jumper)
5V	ENB (via jumper)
GND	GND (shared with motor GND)

Don’t forget: Place jumper caps on ENA and ENB if not using PWM.

Software Setup

1. Install ESP32 Board Support in Arduino IDE

Go to File > Preferences → Paste these URLs in “Additional Board URLs”:

https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json

Go to Tools > Board > Board Manager → Search “ESP32” → Install

2. Select:

Board: AI Thinker ESP32-CAM
Partition Scheme: Default 4MB with SPIFFS
PSRAM: Enabled (if available)

Code:

#include "esp_camera.h"
#include <WiFi.h>
#include <WebServer.h>

// Wi-Fi credentials
const char* ssid = "YOUR_SSID";
const char* password = "YOUR_PASSWORD";

// Motor driver pins (L298N / HW-130)
#define IN1 12
#define IN2 13
#define IN3 14
#define IN4 15

WebServer controlServer(80);
WiFiServer streamServer(81);

// ESP32-CAM AI Thinker pin config
#define PWDN_GPIO_NUM     32
#define RESET_GPIO_NUM    -1
#define XCLK_GPIO_NUM     0
#define SIOD_GPIO_NUM     26
#define SIOC_GPIO_NUM     27
#define Y9_GPIO_NUM       35
#define Y8_GPIO_NUM       34
#define Y7_GPIO_NUM       39
#define Y6_GPIO_NUM       36
#define Y5_GPIO_NUM       21
#define Y4_GPIO_NUM       19
#define Y3_GPIO_NUM       18
#define Y2_GPIO_NUM       5
#define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM    25
#define HREF_GPIO_NUM     23
#define PCLK_GPIO_NUM     22

// ===== Motor Control =====
void stopMotors() {
  digitalWrite(IN1, LOW); digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(IN3, LOW); digitalWrite(IN4, LOW);
}

void moveForward() {
  digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH); digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH); digitalWrite(IN4, LOW);
}

void moveBackward() {
  digitalWrite(IN1, LOW); digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(IN3, LOW); digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH);
}

void turnLeft() {
  digitalWrite(IN1, LOW); digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(IN3, HIGH); digitalWrite(IN4, LOW);
}

void turnRight() {
  digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH); digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(IN3, LOW); digitalWrite(IN4, HIGH);
}

// ===== Web Control UI =====
void handleRoot() {
  controlServer.send(200, "text/html", R"rawliteral(
    <html><head>
      <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
      <title>ESP32 Surveillance Car</title>
      <style>
        button { width: 80px; height: 50px; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px; }
        .btns { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: center; }
        img { width: 100%; max-width: 480px; }
      </style>
    </head><body>
      <h2 align="center">ESP32 Surveillance Car</h2>
      <div align="center">
        <img src="http://)rawliteral" + WiFi.localIP().toString() + R"rawliteral(:81/stream">
      </div>
      <div class="btns">
        <button onclick="send('F')">Forward</button><br>
        <button onclick="send('L')">Left</button>
        <button onclick="send('S')">Stop</button>
        <button onclick="send('R')">Right</button><br>
        <button onclick="send('B')">Backward</button>
      </div>
      <script>
        function send(cmd) {
          fetch("/control?move=" + cmd);
        }
      </script>
    </body></html>
  )rawliteral");
}

// ===== Command Handler =====
void handleControl() {
  String move = controlServer.arg("move");
  Serial.println("Received command: " + move);

  if (move == "F") moveForward();
  else if (move == "B") moveBackward();
  else if (move == "L") turnLeft();
  else if (move == "R") turnRight();
  else stopMotors();

  controlServer.send(204, "", "");
}

// ===== Camera Setup (Grayscale) =====
void startCamera() {
  camera_config_t config;
  config.ledc_channel = LEDC_CHANNEL_0;
  config.ledc_timer = LEDC_TIMER_0;
  config.pin_d0 = Y2_GPIO_NUM; config.pin_d1 = Y3_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_d2 = Y4_GPIO_NUM; config.pin_d3 = Y5_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_d4 = Y6_GPIO_NUM; config.pin_d5 = Y7_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_d6 = Y8_GPIO_NUM; config.pin_d7 = Y9_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_xclk = XCLK_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_pclk = PCLK_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_vsync = VSYNC_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_href  = HREF_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_sscb_sda = SIOD_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_sscb_scl = SIOC_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_pwdn = PWDN_GPIO_NUM;
  config.pin_reset = RESET_GPIO_NUM;
  config.xclk_freq_hz = 20000000;

  config.pixel_format = PIXFORMAT_GRAYSCALE;
  config.frame_size = FRAMESIZE_CIF; // 352x288
  config.jpeg_quality = 12;
  config.fb_count = 1;

  esp_err_t err = esp_camera_init(&config);
  if (err != ESP_OK) {
    Serial.printf("Camera init failed: 0x%x\n", err);
    while (true);
  }
}

// ===== Streaming Task =====
void streamVideo() {
  WiFiClient client = streamServer.available();
  if (!client) return;

  client.println("HTTP/1.1 200 OK");
  client.println("Content-Type: multipart/x-mixed-replace; boundary=frame");
  client.println();

  while (client.connected()) {
    camera_fb_t *fb = esp_camera_fb_get();
    if (!fb) continue;

    uint8_t* jpg_buf = NULL;
    size_t jpg_len = 0;
    bool converted = frame2jpg(fb, 40, &jpg_buf, &jpg_len);

    if (converted) {
      client.printf("--frame\r\nContent-Type: image/jpeg\r\nContent-Length: %u\r\n\r\n", jpg_len);
      client.write(jpg_buf, jpg_len);
      client.println();
      free(jpg_buf);
    }

    esp_camera_fb_return(fb);
    delay(30); // frame delay
  }
}

// Task to run streamVideo() independently
void streamTask(void* pvParameters) {
  while (true) {
    streamVideo();
    vTaskDelay(1); // avoid watchdog timeout
  }
}

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);

  // Motor pin setup
  pinMode(IN1, OUTPUT); pinMode(IN2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(IN3, OUTPUT); pinMode(IN4, OUTPUT);
  stopMotors();

  // Connect Wi-Fi
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  Serial.print("Connecting to WiFi");
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500); Serial.print(".");
  }

  Serial.println("\nWiFi connected!");
  Serial.print("Control page: http://"); Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
  Serial.print("Stream page:  http://"); Serial.print(WiFi.localIP()); Serial.println(":81/stream");

  // Camera + servers
  startCamera();
  controlServer.on("/", handleRoot);
  controlServer.on("/control", handleControl);
  controlServer.begin();
  streamServer.begin();

  // Launch camera stream task on core 0
  xTaskCreatePinnedToCore(
    streamTask,       // Function
    "streamTask",     // Name
    8192,             // Stack size
    NULL,             // Param
    1,                // Priority
    NULL,             // Handle
    0                 // Core 0
  );
}

void loop() {
  controlServer.handleClient();  // only handles motor control
}

How It Works

The ESP32-CAM hosts a video stream at http://<ESP_IP>:81/stream
It also hosts a control UI at http://<ESP_IP> with motor buttons
Clicking the buttons sends HTTP requests (/control?move=F, etc.)
ESP32 processes these to control motors via GPIO 12–15

Usage

Upload code using FTDI
Power the car (ESP32 and motor driver)
Open Serial Monitor at 115200 → Get IP
Open browser on phone or PC:
- Stream page: http://<IP>:81/stream
- Control page: http://<IP>

Add screenshots of:

Serial monitor showing IP
Web UI on phone
Camera stream output

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Motors run but don’t stop	Check IN1–IN4 wiring & stopMotors() call
Motors don’t move at all	Connect ENA/ENB to 5V (jumper caps)
ESP32 reboots or crashes	Ensure proper power supply & grounding
Camera fails with error 0x106	Use `PIXFORMAT_GRAYSCALE` instead of JPEG
Control UI unresponsive during streaming	Use FreeRTOS task for stream

Ideas to Improve

Add PWM speed control
Add obstacle avoidance using ultrasonic sensors
Add voice command control via browser
Record stream to SD card or capture photos
Turn this into a security patrol robot

Conclusion

This surveillance car is a fun and powerful IoT project that combines video streaming, robotics, and web technology — all running on a single ESP32-CAM!