Auto-Rotating Video Mount

For my mechanical engineering undergraduate capstone project at Stanford, my team partnered with Ford Motor Company to create a "smart" rotating video camera mount that interfaces with the car. They had just come out with an open-source standard called OpenXC, which enabled third-party devices to communicate with the vehicle computer, and they were looking for some example projects that hobbyists can use as an example of things that could be done by using OpenXC.

In the 3 months that we had, we were to complete a refined prototype of a rotating video camera mount that pans a camera with the motion of the steering wheel.

User

We designed this product for a driver who enjoys driving and records the view from their ride for recreational purposes. This includes drivers who are on a road trip, or drivers who take their cars around the track on weekends.

Product Requirements

• Small and light enough to mount on the windshield of a Mustang
• Easy to attach & remove
• Less than $300 so that it is within a reach for a hobbyist to make one 
• Pans smoothly with the motion of the steering wheel

Mechanical Design

In this project my primary role was to design the mechanical features of the mount. The largest challenge was to make the entire package short enough to mount on the windshield of a Mustang. Lots of prototyping went into this - It was almost like fitting puzzle pieces together. In our final design, the case the 3D printed to hold all of the components inside with a simple look.

Final Design

The final design was very compact and we were able to mount it on the windshield of the Mustang with ease. Because of the packaging requirements, parts other than the battery are difficult to replace and could use improvement.

View full report here.