Configure a Webcam
webcam
is the general camera model.
If the camera drivers are among those in this mediadevices repository. the camera will work with the webcam model.
Navigate to the Config tab of your robot’s page in the Viam app.
Click on the Components subtab and click Create component.
Select the camera
type, then select the webcam
model.
Enter a name for your camera and click Create.

Edit and fill in the attributes as applicable. If you click on the Video Path field while your robot is live, a drop down autopopulates with identified camera paths.
{
"name": "<your-camera-name>",
"type": "camera",
"model" : "webcam",
"attributes": {
"intrinsic_parameters": {
"width_px": <int>,
"height_px": <int>,
"fx": <float>,
"fy": <float>,
"ppx": <float>,
"ppy": <float>
},
"distortion_parameters": {
"rk1": <float>,
"rk2": <float>,
"rk3": <float>,
"tp1": <float>,
"tp2": <float>
},
"debug": <boolean>,
"format": <string>,
"video_path": "<your-video-path>",
"width_px": <int>,
"height_px": <int>,
"frame_rate": <float>
}
}
{
"name": "my_cam",
"type": "camera",
"model": "webcam",
"attributes": {
"video_path": "video0"
}
}
The following attributes are available for webcam
cameras:
Name | Type | Inclusion | Description |
---|---|---|---|
video_path | string | Optional | The ID of or the path to the webcam. If you don’t provide a video_path , it defaults to the first valid video path it finds. Using the ID of a webcam is more consistent than the path. |
format | string | Optional | The camera image format, used with video_path to find the camera. |
width_px | int | Optional | The camera image width in pixels, used with video_path to find a camera with this resolution.Default: Closest possible value to 480 |
height_px | int | Optional | The camera image height in pixels, used with video_path to find a camera with this resolution.Default: Closest possible value to 640 |
frame_rate | float | Optional | The camera capture frequency as frames per second, used with video_path to find a camera with this throughput.Default: Closest possible value to 30.0 |
intrinsic_parameters | object | Optional | The intrinsic parameters of the camera used to do 2D <-> 3D projections:
|
distortion_parameters | object | Optional | Modified Brown-Conrady parameters used to correct for distortions caused by the shape of the camera lens:
|
debug | boolean | Optional | Enables the debug outputs from the camera if true .Default: false |
View the camera stream
Once your camera is configured and connected, go to the Control tab, and click on the camera’s dropdown menu. Then toggle the camera or the Point Cloud Data view to ON. If everything is configured correctly, you will see the live video feed from your camera. You can change the refresh frequency as needed to change bandwidth.

Troubleshooting
Find the video_path
To list available video_path
s use the following command:
ls /dev/v4l/by-id/
To find the path
s of all connected video devices, run the following command:
v4l2-ctl --list-devices
The id
listed by ls /dev/v4l/by-id/
is a more consistent way to refer to the webcam.
system_profiler SPCameraDataType
The Unique ID displayed for each camera is the video_path
.
No visible live video feed
If you’re working on a Linux machine, ssh
into it, then restart viam-server
by running:
sudo systemctl restart viam-server
If this doesn’t work, you can reboot your machine by running:
sudo reboot
CSI Camera not working on a Raspberry Pi
If you are using a CSI camera on a Raspberry Pi, you need to enable legacy mode.
High CPU usage
Each camera stream you add uses CPU on the device it is connected to and there is therefore a practical limit to the numbeof camera streams your device can simultaneously support. You can limit the CPU usage by reducing the image resolution.
Timeout errors on a Raspberry Pi
If you are getting “timeout” errors from GRPC when adding a webcam
model on a Raspberry Pi, make sure the webcam port is enabled on the Pi (common if you are using a fresh Pi right out of the box).
To enable the webcam port on a Raspberry Pi, run the following command:
sudo raspi-config
Then, select: Interface Options -> Camera -> Enable Camera.
Restart the Pi to complete the configuration.
Next Steps
Have questions, or want to meet other people working on robots? Join our Community Discord.
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