https://yujia21.github.io/tags/cats/Recent content in Cats on yujia21Hugoen-us<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CC BY-NC 4.0</a>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://yujia21.github.io/tech/2026-06-01-cat-cam/Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://yujia21.github.io/tech/2026-06-01-cat-cam/<p>I have been meaning to set up a pet cam to watch my two cats for a while, and finally had some free time to get around to doing it. Since I have an old USB webcam, a Raspberry Pi that was lying around doing nothing, I decided to set up something with my existing hardware rather than buying something off the shelf.</p> <h1 id="functionalities-desired">Functionalities desired</h1> <ul> <li>Have a live view of my living room from my phone or from my laptop</li> <li>Use existing hardware: a USB webcam and Raspberry Pi 4 Model B</li> <li>Nothing accessible from an unknown phone or laptop</li> </ul> <p>I had considered setting up a system where motion is started only if someone is actively requesting a view, instead of the USB camera being on all the time, but the energy saved did not seem worth it as the Pi would be on all the time anyway.</p>