Arduino object detection code doesn't compile

Question/Issue: I did an object detection model for my ESP32-Cam and I’m trying to run the code as an Arduino Library, but when I try to verify it, the IDE can’t resolve the libraries, well it’s not this but it takes so long to find and apply the correct library that it returns a ping timeout.
I don’t know what to do anymore, I tried to compile it in the Arduino IDE and in VS Code, did the inclusion of the custom library Edge Impulse gives when building the project, I’m literally using the example code and this is just a test, I am building a much larger project, so I can’t continue with it without getting this one to work first.

Project ID: 288498

Context/Use case: The error i get in the Arduino IDE is just “ping timeout”. This is the error message I’m getting in VS Code:

Sketch uses 472129 bytes (15%) of program storage space. Maximum is 3145728 bytes.
Global variables use 34224 bytes (10%) of dynamic memory, leaving 293456 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 327680 bytes.
IntelliSense configuration updated. To manually rebuild your IntelliSense configuration run "Ctrl+Alt+I"
[Done] Verifying sketch 'espCam-cube-piram.ino'

I made some little modifications on the code, but only at the beggining of it, to keep it more clean for me, but here it is:

/* Includes ---------------------------------------------------------------- */
#include <LuizSV11-project-1_inferencing.h>
#include "edge-impulse-sdk/dsp/image/image.hpp"

#include "esp_camera.h"

// Select camera model - find more camera models in camera_pins.h file here
// https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/blob/master/libraries/ESP32/examples/Camera/CameraWebServer/camera_pins.h

#define CAMERA_MODEL_AI_THINKER // Has PSRAM

#if defined(CAMERA_MODEL_AI_THINKER)
#define PWDN_GPIO_NUM     32
#define RESET_GPIO_NUM    -1
#define XCLK_GPIO_NUM      0
#define SIOD_GPIO_NUM     26
#define SIOC_GPIO_NUM     27

#define Y9_GPIO_NUM       35
#define Y8_GPIO_NUM       34
#define Y7_GPIO_NUM       39
#define Y6_GPIO_NUM       36
#define Y5_GPIO_NUM       21
#define Y4_GPIO_NUM       19
#define Y3_GPIO_NUM       18
#define Y2_GPIO_NUM        5
#define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM    25
#define HREF_GPIO_NUM     23
#define PCLK_GPIO_NUM     22

#else
#error "Camera model not selected"
#endif

/* Constant defines -------------------------------------------------------- */
#define EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_COLS           320
#define EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_ROWS           240
#define EI_CAMERA_FRAME_BYTE_SIZE                 3

/* Private variables ------------------------------------------------------- */
static bool debug_nn = false; // Set this to true to see e.g. features generated from the raw signal
static bool is_initialised = false;
uint8_t *snapshot_buf; //points to the output of the capture

static camera_config_t camera_config = {
    .pin_pwdn = PWDN_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_reset = RESET_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_xclk = XCLK_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_sscb_sda = SIOD_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_sscb_scl = SIOC_GPIO_NUM,

    .pin_d7 = Y9_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_d6 = Y8_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_d5 = Y7_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_d4 = Y6_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_d3 = Y5_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_d2 = Y4_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_d1 = Y3_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_d0 = Y2_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_vsync = VSYNC_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_href = HREF_GPIO_NUM,
    .pin_pclk = PCLK_GPIO_NUM,

    //XCLK 20MHz or 10MHz for OV2640 double FPS (Experimental)
    .xclk_freq_hz = 20000000,
    .ledc_timer = LEDC_TIMER_0,
    .ledc_channel = LEDC_CHANNEL_0,

    .pixel_format = PIXFORMAT_JPEG, //YUV422,GRAYSCALE,RGB565,JPEG
    .frame_size = FRAMESIZE_QVGA,    //QQVGA-UXGA Do not use sizes above QVGA when not JPEG

    .jpeg_quality = 12, //0-63 lower number means higher quality
    .fb_count = 1,       //if more than one, i2s runs in continuous mode. Use only with JPEG
    .fb_location = CAMERA_FB_IN_PSRAM,
    .grab_mode = CAMERA_GRAB_WHEN_EMPTY,
};

/* Function definitions ------------------------------------------------------- */
bool ei_camera_init(void);
void ei_camera_deinit(void);
bool ei_camera_capture(uint32_t img_width, uint32_t img_height, uint8_t *out_buf) ;

/**
* @brief      Arduino setup function
*/
void setup()
{
    // put your setup code here, to run once:
    Serial.begin(115200);
    //comment out the below line to start inference immediately after upload
    while (!Serial);
    Serial.println("Edge Impulse Inferencing Demo");
    if (ei_camera_init() == false) {
        ei_printf("Failed to initialize Camera!\r\n");
    }
    else {
        ei_printf("Camera initialized\r\n");
    }

    ei_printf("\nStarting continious inference in 2 seconds...\n");
    ei_sleep(2000);
}

/**
* @brief      Get data and run inferencing
*
* @param[in]  debug  Get debug info if true
*/
void loop()
{

    // instead of wait_ms, we'll wait on the signal, this allows threads to cancel us...
    if (ei_sleep(5) != EI_IMPULSE_OK) {
        return;
    }

    snapshot_buf = (uint8_t*)malloc(EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_COLS * EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_ROWS * EI_CAMERA_FRAME_BYTE_SIZE);

    // check if allocation was successful
    if(snapshot_buf == nullptr) {
        ei_printf("ERR: Failed to allocate snapshot buffer!\n");
        return;
    }

    ei::signal_t signal;
    signal.total_length = EI_CLASSIFIER_INPUT_WIDTH * EI_CLASSIFIER_INPUT_HEIGHT;
    signal.get_data = &ei_camera_get_data;

    if (ei_camera_capture((size_t)EI_CLASSIFIER_INPUT_WIDTH, (size_t)EI_CLASSIFIER_INPUT_HEIGHT, snapshot_buf) == false) {
        ei_printf("Failed to capture image\r\n");
        free(snapshot_buf);
        return;
    }

    // Run the classifier
    ei_impulse_result_t result = { 0 };

    EI_IMPULSE_ERROR err = run_classifier(&signal, &result, debug_nn);
    if (err != EI_IMPULSE_OK) {
        ei_printf("ERR: Failed to run classifier (%d)\n", err);
        return;
    }

    // print the predictions
    ei_printf("Predictions (DSP: %d ms., Classification: %d ms., Anomaly: %d ms.): \n",
                result.timing.dsp, result.timing.classification, result.timing.anomaly);

#if EI_CLASSIFIER_OBJECT_DETECTION == 1
    bool bb_found = result.bounding_boxes[0].value > 0;
    for (size_t ix = 0; ix < result.bounding_boxes_count; ix++) {
        auto bb = result.bounding_boxes[ix];
        if (bb.value == 0) {
            continue;
        }
        ei_printf("    %s (%f) [ x: %u, y: %u, width: %u, height: %u ]\n", bb.label, bb.value, bb.x, bb.y, bb.width, bb.height);
    }
    if (!bb_found) {
        ei_printf("    No objects found\n");
    }
#else
    for (size_t ix = 0; ix < EI_CLASSIFIER_LABEL_COUNT; ix++) {
        ei_printf("    %s: %.5f\n", result.classification[ix].label,
                                    result.classification[ix].value);
    }
#endif

#if EI_CLASSIFIER_HAS_ANOMALY == 1
        ei_printf("    anomaly score: %.3f\n", result.anomaly);
#endif


    free(snapshot_buf);

}

/**
 * @brief   Setup image sensor & start streaming
 *
 * @retval  false if initialisation failed
 */
bool ei_camera_init(void) {

    if (is_initialised) return true;

#if defined(CAMERA_MODEL_ESP_EYE)
  pinMode(13, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(14, INPUT_PULLUP);
#endif

    //initialize the camera
    esp_err_t err = esp_camera_init(&camera_config);
    if (err != ESP_OK) {
      Serial.printf("Camera init failed with error 0x%x\n", err);
      return false;
    }

    sensor_t * s = esp_camera_sensor_get();
    // initial sensors are flipped vertically and colors are a bit saturated
    if (s->id.PID == OV3660_PID) {
      s->set_vflip(s, 1); // flip it back
      s->set_brightness(s, 1); // up the brightness just a bit
      s->set_saturation(s, 0); // lower the saturation
    }

#if defined(CAMERA_MODEL_M5STACK_WIDE)
    s->set_vflip(s, 1);
    s->set_hmirror(s, 1);
#elif defined(CAMERA_MODEL_ESP_EYE)
    s->set_vflip(s, 1);
    s->set_hmirror(s, 1);
    s->set_awb_gain(s, 1);
#endif

    is_initialised = true;
    return true;
}

/**
 * @brief      Stop streaming of sensor data
 */
void ei_camera_deinit(void) {

    //deinitialize the camera
    esp_err_t err = esp_camera_deinit();

    if (err != ESP_OK)
    {
        ei_printf("Camera deinit failed\n");
        return;
    }

    is_initialised = false;
    return;
}


/**
 * @brief      Capture, rescale and crop image
 *
 * @param[in]  img_width     width of output image
 * @param[in]  img_height    height of output image
 * @param[in]  out_buf       pointer to store output image, NULL may be used
 *                           if ei_camera_frame_buffer is to be used for capture and resize/cropping.
 *
 * @retval     false if not initialised, image captured, rescaled or cropped failed
 *
 */
bool ei_camera_capture(uint32_t img_width, uint32_t img_height, uint8_t *out_buf) {
    bool do_resize = false;

    if (!is_initialised) {
        ei_printf("ERR: Camera is not initialized\r\n");
        return false;
    }

    camera_fb_t *fb = esp_camera_fb_get();

    if (!fb) {
        ei_printf("Camera capture failed\n");
        return false;
    }

   bool converted = fmt2rgb888(fb->buf, fb->len, PIXFORMAT_JPEG, snapshot_buf);

   esp_camera_fb_return(fb);

   if(!converted){
       ei_printf("Conversion failed\n");
       return false;
   }

    if ((img_width != EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_COLS)
        || (img_height != EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_ROWS)) {
        do_resize = true;
    }

    if (do_resize) {
        ei::image::processing::crop_and_interpolate_rgb888(
        out_buf,
        EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_COLS,
        EI_CAMERA_RAW_FRAME_BUFFER_ROWS,
        out_buf,
        img_width,
        img_height);
    }


    return true;
}

static int ei_camera_get_data(size_t offset, size_t length, float *out_ptr)
{
    // we already have a RGB888 buffer, so recalculate offset into pixel index
    size_t pixel_ix = offset * 3;
    size_t pixels_left = length;
    size_t out_ptr_ix = 0;

    while (pixels_left != 0) {
        out_ptr[out_ptr_ix] = (snapshot_buf[pixel_ix] << 16) + (snapshot_buf[pixel_ix + 1] << 8) + snapshot_buf[pixel_ix + 2];

        // go to the next pixel
        out_ptr_ix++;
        pixel_ix+=3;
        pixels_left--;
    }
    // and done!
    return 0;
}

#if !defined(EI_CLASSIFIER_SENSOR) || EI_CLASSIFIER_SENSOR != EI_CLASSIFIER_SENSOR_CAMERA
#error "Invalid model for current sensor"
#endif

I hope this is suficient for someone to help me and sorry for any english mistakes.

I was able to compile the INO code above. I replaced your library with mine:

//#include <LuizSV11-project-1_inferencing.h>
#include <Cup_inferencing.h>

I chose board ESP Wrover Module since I have an ESP-EYE (not a CAM).


  • What board are you compiling for in the Arduino IDE?

  • I don’t understand ping timeout…are you using the online Arduino IDE?


Once you get it to compile…

What CAM board do you have:

  • ESP_CAM,
  • ESPS2_CAM, or
  • ESPS3_CAM?

So you’ll need to change the line:
#define CAMERA_MODEL_AI_THINKER // Has PSRAM

with one of these

#define CAMERA_MODEL_ESP32_CAM_BOARD
#define CAMERA_MODEL_ESP32S3_CAM_LCD
#define CAMERA_MODEL_ESP32S2_CAM_BOARD
#define CAMERA_MODEL_ESP32S3_EYE

and then swap out this code with the pin definitions for your camera:

#if defined(CAMERA_MODEL_AI_THINKER)
 <<< This code is found in camera_pins.h referenced on line #8 in your code above. >>>
#endif