RC Crawler Scout Camera with a Pan Servo
Keep your normal radio for driving, add a Pi Zero camera that streams to your phone and a servo that turns it from a spare channel.
Crawling over rocks is slow and precise, which makes it perfect for a driver's-eye camera. The receiver moves the pan servo directly, so steering stays on your reliable radio while the Pi only handles video.
LiPo batteries can catch fire if punctured, overcharged or shorted. Charge in a LiPo bag, never unattended, and always remove propellers while working on the bench.
Mission steps
Print a mount
Print a small bracket that holds the Camera Module 3 Wide on an SG90 horn, and fix it to the crawler's cab or roll cage.
Wire the servo
Plug the SG90 into a free receiver channel and assign it to a knob or slider on your transmitter.
Power the Pi
Feed the Pi Zero 2 W from a 5 V UBEC on the main battery, not from the receiver's servo rail.
Stream video
Install MediaMTX or use rpicam-vid to stream low-latency H.264 over Wi-Fi to your phone.
Explore
Drive on the radio while watching the stream; use the knob to look around obstacles before you climb.
Code
# simple low-latency stream; open tcp://<pi-ip>:8888 in VLC on your phone
rpicam-vid -t 0 --width 1280 --height 720 --framerate 30 \
--inline --listen -o tcp://0.0.0.0:8888Tip: test every script on the bench before installing it in a moving machine.
Questions
How far does the Wi-Fi stream reach?
Usually a few dozen metres with the Pi Zero's small antenna — fine for crawling, which happens close by.