ThirdLaw needed a practical way to change views from a 360-degree camera array mounted above a moving follow car. The operator needed physical controls that could respond quickly without placing the switching hardware in the same position.
A networked pair of controllers
I built the prototype around two Arduino-compatible boards connected over Ethernet. The client read a bank of physical buttons through a multiplexer and sent the selected state to a server mounted with the switching equipment.
The server listened for those commands and changed the appropriate multiplexer channels controlling the video converter. This separated the operator's controls from the camera-side hardware while keeping the command set small and easy to diagnose.
Designing for a moving platform
A follow car adds vibration, limited space, power constraints, and little time for complex interaction. Physical buttons and a narrow network protocol were useful because the operator could make a selection without navigating a general-purpose interface.
The system demonstrated that a focused hardware controller could turn a specialized camera workflow into a repeatable operation. It also made the remaining production work visible: packaging, connector security, power, recovery behavior, and field maintenance mattered as much as the initial circuit.