So what can one do with a pair of HTC 8X Windows Phones, a pan / tilt gimble, WiFi network and a block of wood? It's a superb question and one that HTC engineer Garrett Rysko can answer. A post over on the HTC blog walks us through how an advanced baby monitor was created for his lab partner, Derek Feri. While it's one expensive baby monitor kit, we always enjoy covering DIY projects.
So why was a baby monitor chosen as the project? Rysko explains: "We thought it would be awesome for Derek to be able to see what trouble the baby was getting into without having to get out of bed." Developed as a project for an embedded systems and programming course at the University of Washington, Rysko and Feri designed the monitor to enable one 8X to stream video over WiFi to a second handset, acting as a controller.
The mechanical gimble allows the user to manipulate the viewing angle of the 8X by sending commands over WiFi to modify the position of the mobile phone. What's neat is there's an "Audio Detection Mode" that turns the camera towards sound detected in the room. We'll be the first to say that's rather awesome indeed. The video shows the setup in action, so be sure to have a gander if you're interested in how it works.
It's good to see HTC highlight its own Windows Phones. The manufacturer has been relatively quiet lately, but with small projects like this the company can promote its hardware without going through much trouble. So what are your thoughts on the Windows Phone baby monitor? Think you'll be using one in the future? Let us know in the comments.
Also, we'd love one of those HTC t-shirts.
Source: HTC Blog
