Remote Webcam Access for Lab Experiments

Hi,

For once, I am the one asking for help. I am looking for a way to setup a webcam to watch an experiment that needs to run for 48 hours. I'm asking this because, the materials I am making are sensitive to heat and given that the reaction is under reflux, if a problem appears with the cooling setup and I loose some solvent, I'd like to know before something bad happens.

The setup I was thinking of was a laptop connected to the webcam and I will be watching from another computer. The laptop will be connected through the university's network, so whether it will have a static IP and I will be able to access it through it may not be certain.

If any of you has suggestions or advice, I'd appreciate it. I can always contact the IT department if I need something specific to see if it is possible, but I need to know what.

 

Wouldn't any of the internet streaming services work?

 

If you have any to suggest, then yeah, that would work. The wireless connection is a tad flaky in the lab, but should hold. I've been doing my own research in the mean time and I've seen skype suggested for it. Ideally, I'd want something able to maintain a HD stream.

 

Ustream.tv is probably the best but it's not free if you don't want ads. However, they have a free 30 day trial. "Choose a paid plan or revert to a Basic ad-supported free account after 30 days." Would that do? You can google for more. I had a link for another free one but lost it.

 

I said that I'd come back on this once I had the setup done. Finally, I ended up going with teamviewer (which is free for non commercial use by the way) to remote control my Elitebook and monitor the webcam. This would also enable me to control my setup if it was hooked to a LabVIEW VI in terms of temperature control, and mixing impeller speed. All you need is a decently fast internet connection speed and you're set. There are some small lag spikes from time to time, but nothing that prevents me from monitoring my setup. What's also great about teamviewer is that you can remote from your smartphone or tablet.

That also means that I will be able to start a chemical reaction that will last for the whole week-end and monitor it from home. That way, I only have to come to the lab if something goes wrong and I'll know that something isn't right long before the situation is critical.

Now, to convince my thesis advisor to hook the reactor to a computer with LabVIEW...

One important note: getting to remote using Windows or using an IP camera would be a heap of trouble at university. I'd have to write justifications as to why I'd need the relevant ports open for outside access, submit that to the administration, get IT to open the ports to me, etc. Lots of paperwork and no guarantee it'll be accepted. Anything that goes through plain ol' Internet will work without any issues though. If any other grad students come out here looking for ways to control/monitor experimental setups, that is something very important to inquire about before you consider alternatives like connecting to a static IP through the university's network.

 

This sounds awesome. Glad you found a solution. Did you look at chrome Remote Desktop? It's the same sort of thing where they handle all the dynamic DNS for you.

 

Given that I don't use chrome and will not use chrome in any foreseeable future, it's not something I'll try. It should work though. It has something that doesn't require opening new ports to the network, that's about it.

 

Hey Tijo, much thanks for your solution. Looks like you found a good way for our scientists to control their nuclear reactors.