ESP32-CAM Facial Detection / Recognition

[gfvalvo]

Hey all:
I thought I'd start learning about ESP32-CAM for an upcoming project. So, I got an AI-Thinker (with PSRAM) - http://www.diymalls.com/ESP32-CAM-Devel ... =esp32-cam
and an external antenna.

The CameraWEbServer example compiled and downloaded without issue and worked right out of the box. Well, ALMOST. Streaming video to the browser client worked great. I think it's quite impressive. I poked around a little in the code and saw that esp_camera.h provides some very sophisticated APIs and it will take me quite awhile to learn them ... I got time.

I said it ALMOST worked right out of the box. What didn't work was Facial Detection / Recognition. Nothing happened after enabling those on the Web page. I didn't get the little rectangles around faces as shown in countless YouTube videos.

Looking in app_httpd.cpp, I see a lot of conditionally-compiled code that depends on the macro 'CONFIG_ESP_FACE_DETECT_ENABLED' begin defined. So, I naively defined it and tried to compile again. Now there were complaints that the file "fd_forward.h" couldn't be found.

I have ESP32 cores v2.0.1 and v2.0.2 installed and the file "fd_forward.h" does not exist anywhere in those.

So, finally, the question .... does anyone know of a combination of ESP32 core version and board type selection (and perhaps Aduino IDE version) that has Facial Detection / Recognition working with the built-in CameraWEbServer example?

Thanks.

PS - FYI, I also posted this questions here: https://forum.arduino.cc/t/esp32-cam-fa ... ion/980773

[rpiloverbd]

Hi, have you checked this video along with the troubleshooting guide in the end? https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-c ... duino-ide/

[gfvalvo]

Yes I have, thanks. He appears to be using a very old board package version. He's also using a different Board Manager URL to load the package. In fact he's inconsistent in specifying the URL between his ESP32 Installation video and his written instructions here: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/install ... tructions/

BTW, this is an unending source of annoyance for me. Which is the "CORRECT" ESP32 Board Manager URL? Why are there so many conflicting instructions? I use: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espre ... index.json

Anyway, traffic here: https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/issues/6508
indicates that Facial Detection / Recognition doesn't work in later version of the ESP32 Board Package. There is a claim that it will be fixed.

I rolled back to ESP32 v1.0.4 and with that Facial Detection / Recognition "works" for some definition "works". But, it slows things down greatly.

[Rick Morris]

Hi did you ever figure this out? I have the same problem. Video works fine but no facial detection/recognition. I'm using Windows but I can't imagine that would make any difference.

I tried going back to 1.0.4 and no change ... camera works but no facial detection/recognition.

Did you ever find out what the proper board manager is?

Thanks

[gfvalvo]

I did get it to "work" using URL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espre ... index.json and v1.0.4. But, haven't played with it any since.

[christurnerchris]

i cannot get sketches to up load to my AI Thinker Cam (its labeled ESP-32S) copy clone thing.
luckily i uploaded code to it a few years ago, so i can see video etc on my pc , so I know its working

but now with the new Arduino IDE (Ive tried 1.18.19 and the new 2.3.6 ) the standard example cameraserver wont upload (I assume you don't need me to post the code)
I get the error
human_face_detect_msr01.hpp: No such file or directory.

Ive seen that if you use Arduino core 3.07 then it will work but can't find any instructions for how you install that (I'm on windows 11) on the arduino IDE

thanks Chris

[christurnerchris]

If changing the Arduino Core is difficult, does anyone have a version of CameraWebserver which has had the face recognition section removed - who needs it anyway!

[lbernstone]

The camera code is included in the core package. You should be able to find it in your examples under the "ESP32" section. You can get it from the tap at https://github.com/espressif/arduino-es ... aWebServer