bugcam 0.5.0

detect and classify insects on a raspberry pi

bugcam

Raspberry Pi insect detection CLI using Hailo AI accelerator and the edge26 processing pipeline. Records video, detects and classifies insects on-device, and uploads results to S3.

Default API endpoint: https://api.sensinggarden.com/v1

Prerequisites (Raspberry Pi with Hailo AI)

bugcam requires system-level Hailo packages that are not available via PyPI. Install them before running setup:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3-hailo-tappas hailo-tappas-core

If you encounter sudo password prompts during setup, enable passwordless sudo:

echo "$USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/$USER

Quick Start

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MIT-Senseable-City-Lab/sensing-garden/main/install.sh | bash
bugcam setup
bugcam models list
bugcam models download <model-name>
bugcam run

Commands

Command	Description
bugcam run	Full pipeline: record + process + upload + heartbeat + receiver
bugcam run --no-receiver	Run without DOT receiver server
bugcam receive start	Start DOT receiver server standalone
bugcam record single	Record a single video
bugcam process	Process existing videos with edge26
bugcam upload	Upload processed output to S3
bugcam heartbeat	Write a heartbeat snapshot
bugcam environment	Collect one environmental sensor reading
bugcam dot-info	Show DOT sensor setup instructions
bugcam models list	List available and installed models
bugcam models download <name>	Download a model bundle
bugcam models info <name>	Show model details
bugcam models delete <name>	Delete a model bundle
bugcam status	System diagnostics (hardware, deps, camera, Hailo)
bugcam setup	Device registration + Hailo installation
bugcam autostart enable	Enable systemd service for boot
bugcam autostart disable	Disable systemd service
bugcam autostart status	Show service status
bugcam autostart logs	View service logs
bugcam update	Update to latest version
bugcam --version	Show installed version

bugcam run Options

Option	Default	Description
--with-receiver/--no-receiver	True	Start DOT receiver alongside pipeline
--receiver-port	5001	DOT receiver HTTP port
--receiver-host	0.0.0.0	DOT receiver bind address
--mode	continuous	Recording mode: continuous or interval
--interval	5	Minutes between recordings (interval mode)
--chunk-duration	60	Length of each recorded chunk in seconds
--model	(from config)	Model bundle name or model.hef path

Architecture

• edge26 pipeline lives in bugcam/edge26/ (vendored from the edge26 repo). Handles recording, processing, and output formatting.
• BugSpot library handles motion detection and insect tracking.
• Hailo accelerator runs classification on detected insects.
• DOT Receiver (bugcam/receiver/) is an HTTP server that receives insect track data from iOS devices (DOTs) and saves it in edge26-compatible format. Automatically started with bugcam run (can be disabled with --no-receiver). Can also run standalone via bugcam receive start.
• Upload sends results to S3 via presigned URLs obtained from the backend API. No AWS credentials are stored on-device -- only a per-device API key issued during bugcam setup.
• S3 trigger Lambda indexes uploaded results into DynamoDB.

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/bugcam/config.json

Field	Description
api_url	Backend API endpoint
api_key	Per-device API key (from registration)
flick_id	FLICK device identifier
dot_ids	List of DOT device identifiers
s3_bucket	Output S3 bucket name
input_dir	DOT receiver input directory
output_dir	Processed video output directory
state_dir	State/pending directory
pending_dir	Classification queue directory

Models are stored in ~/.cache/bugcam/models/<bundle>/ (each bundle contains model.hef + labels.txt).

Storage Configuration

By default, bugcam stores data on the SD card. For better performance (avoid "frame queue full" errors), use an external USB drive.

Storage Type	Write Speed	Sustained Performance
SD Card (Class 10)	10-40 MB/s	Degrades as it fills up
USB 3.0 Flash Drive	20-100 MB/s	More consistent
USB 3.0 SSD	200-500+ MB/s	Very stable

Configuration Methods (in order of precedence):

1. CLI options (per run):

   bugcam run --input-dir /media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/incoming \
                 --output-dir /media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/outputs
   

2. Config file (persistent, set during bugcam setup):

   {
     "input_dir": "/media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/incoming",
     "output_dir": "/media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/outputs",
     "state_dir": "/media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/state"
   }
   

3. Environment variables (persistent in shell):

   export BUGCAM_INPUT_DIR="/media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/incoming"
   export BUGCAM_OUTPUT_DIR="/media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/outputs"
   export BUGCAM_STATE_DIR="/media/pi/4549-BC23/bugcam/state"
   

During bugcam setup, external drives are automatically detected and offered as storage locations.

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB RAM
• Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ (Hailo-8L or Hailo-8)
• Pi Camera (HQ Camera recommended)
• Optional SEN55 environmental sensor on I2C for bugcam environment and periodic environment uploads
• Python 3.11+
• Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm 64-bit
• build-essential and libcjson-dev for building the bundled SEN55 reader

DOT Sensors

DOTs are mobile devices (iPhones) that detect insects and send data to a FLICK (Raspberry Pi) for classification. Run bugcam dot-info on the FLICK to see full setup instructions.

The FLICK runs a DOT Receiver server (started by default with bugcam run) that accepts HTTP uploads from iOS devices on port 5001.

DOT Receiver Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description
/upload_crops	POST	Receive crop images for a track
/upload_labels	POST	Receive bounding box labels
/upload_done	POST	Signal track completion
/upload_background	POST	Receive reference background image
/upload_video	POST	Receive video file
/api/track	POST	Alternative track telemetry endpoint
/api/heartbeat	GET/POST	Connection test
/api/health	GET	Health check

Data Structure

Each DOT puts files in the FLICK's input folder using this structure:

{dot_id}_{YYYYMMDD}/
├── crops/{track_id}_{HHMMSS}/
│   ├── frame_000001.jpg
│   └── done.txt                ← signals track is ready to process
├── labels/{track_id}.json      ← bounding boxes per frame
├── videos/{dot_id}_{YYYYMMDD}_{HHMMSS}.mp4
└── {HHMMSS}_background.jpg     ← reference frame without insects

DOTs also write heartbeat and environment data to the output folder:

{dot_id}/
├── heartbeats/{YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS}.json
└── environment/{YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS}.json

DOT IDs are auto-generated during bugcam setup (e.g. garden-london-1-dot01). The receiver automatically assigns DOT IDs to connecting iOS devices from the configured dot_ids list.

Development

git clone https://github.com/MIT-Senseable-City-Lab/sensing-garden.git
cd sensing-garden
poetry install
poetry run bugcam --help

License

MIT