An Ottawa company is hoping to make a big splash with a new WiFi camera the size of a toonie.
When presenting the concept at Maker Faire New York last year, it became obvious to engineer Yunfeng Liu that a consumer version would be a hit.
He said his team started the project with the initial idea of selling the camera, known as WiCam, to other engineers as a component for use in their own products.
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“When they see such a small camera a lot of people think about all the possibilities they could use it for,” said Mr. Liu. “A lot of kids came to see it and they want to make their own toys.”
Mr. Liu said other uses for the camera might include a body cam, baby monitor, security camera, drone camera, or “dashboard” camera for bikes and cars.
The camera transmits video to a smartphone remotely via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and is designed to run on low power on a rechargeable battery.
After the response in New York Mr. Liu travelled to China to connect with manufacturers.
So far, the company has raised more than $112,000 on Kickstarter – more than double its goal of $40,000.
Mr. Liu is aiming to have the camera shipped to funders in July.
This article originally appeared onmetronews.ca on April 3.
