Over in a land of palm trees and breezy sunsets, Adafruit’s Noe Ruiz has been making things. (My Noe story: I waltzed up to him in the Adafruit factory once, grabbed his hand, pumped his arm up and down and said: “SO good to see you again. How’s your brother?” He looked deeply confused. Turns out we’d never met; I’d just recognised him, and his brother Pedro, from YouTube. I’m still red with embarrassment a couple of years later.)

Anyway. Camera.

This build‘s a great project for those of you with access to a 3d printer. It’s a teeny-weeny wearable camera which you can program to take a continuous stream or (more fun) use to take a time-lapse recording of your day.

Sample time-lapse output was showcased on Adafruit’s 3d Thursday Hangout. You can see some here:

Wearable cameras are fun – they’re great for recording events like parties or weddings, for keeping a record of holidays, or for dedicated diarists. They’ve also got a more serious side; there’s plenty of research available on using wearable cameras to aid people with memory impairments, not only acting as a piece of bionic memory, but also supporting the brain’s ability to build memories by enabling it to review material.

This being an Adafruit project, it’s documented down to the tiniest detail; there are even instructions to build the device using other models of Raspberry Pi if you haven’t got your hands on a Zero yet. (Good news: Zero availability at the four distributors, Pimoroni, The Pi Hut, Adafruit and Micro Center, is much improved, with stock appearing at each location weekly now – sign up to their newsletters to be notified when stock arrives.)

Adafruit have made files for your 3d printer available, and they’ve provided a ready-to-download SD card image for the project along with instructions on rolling your own if you want a bit more of a challenge. You’ll find an easy-to-follow wiring tutorial, and a user-guide.

Big thanks are due to Philip Burgess and both Ruiz brothers. We loved the whole thing: it’s a brilliant project, a perfect write-up, and it offers so much opportunity for expansion. Thanks all!