We can find ANYTHING. Kids science project

So, two weeks from now my kids science project is due. Found out this morning that her partner left the school and took half tge project with her because my daughter forgot to ask.

Regardless, the prohect is for a remotecontrol button camera to put on a backpack or something and be accessed through a smartphone app.

I know EXACTLY jack E36 M3 about this stuff. But, its my kid. 

So give me a crash course on apps/quick and dirty app creation, and a cheap camera that we can use for this please.

Were gonna get this done. Even if it kills her.

8 more years.....

I'm no help, sorry.

Its probably just me being paranoid and/or not understanding the project, but tell me again why someone at your daughter's school wants her to put a button camera on her backpack that can be accessed from a smartphone?

In reply to JohnInKansas :

It was actually her idea. So parents can find kids if kidnapped. Use a secured passeord kind if thing, remote operate the camera to give a location and satus of the missing kid visually. 

I have issues with tge privacy/practicality, but its a good concept and im glad shes thinking about that kind of problem.

Thats a neat concept that helicopter parents would love to have so they can watch their kids everywhere instead of the intended purpose.  I bet if Mary did it right she could sell the business plan and layout 

Thats actually a good idea.

But science project first. 

Step 1. Website/article on E36 M3ty app creation?

Google " wi fi baby monitors" or something similar

Pretty sure this tech is already out there and ready to deploy.

I don't want to burst any bubbles because anything is possible, however to access the camera from an app the camera itself is going to need to be wifi or cellular enabled.  That's a fairly big ask (and not in button size format) 

Ive done similar setups (not with the app creation side though) for small drones with cameras.  In fact your best bet might be to find a small video enabled drone and dissect it for all the necessary parts.   But most of those rely on a bluetooth connection to the phone on which the app resides so your range would be very limited.

https://www.qualitygrabber.com/products/magnetic-mini-wifi-camera?variant=30307248209993

This what you want?

Bit more DIY

https://www.diyphotography.net/build-matchbox-sized-diy-timelapse-spy-camera-30/

And just cause its true

https://newrepublic.com/article/115347/parental-surveillance-creepy-new-ways-spy-your-kids

There are many pet trackers , but none that I see with video , 

You need cell service , Bluetooth has limited range.

Strip down a cheap cellphone , get service off eBay for 10 bucks a month , 

But now you need to charge it ever day or 2 .......

But 3 cheers for your daughter thinking about this,,......

What are the critera of the project? Do something that actually uses the scientific method or just demonstrate something that is STEM-ish? If it's the latter and more focused on idea generation than actual execution just make a notional MVP (minimal viable product) out of the things you would use, as cheaply as possible, to demonstrate proof of concept. Much easier than actually making something, and it's what a lot of startups do to pitch their ideas.

In reply to Paul_VR6 :

That's a good question. She's supposed to be bringing home all the paperwork with her tonight from school. It's a stem school so my bet would be just a proof-of-concept piece what I don't want to guess at this point. Thanks for all the feedback so far guys grateful to have a group of fathers and grown men to help me help my daughter

Kids cell phones are already setup to be GPS tracked. There's already video chat apps available. I'm not the person to write the code to do it, but I can't imagine it being very hard to setup the video call app to turn on when the parents pings the GPS tracker. you'd just need a pocket on the backpack that didn't cover the camera. 

If this is an anti-kidnap think, you need to think that a bookbag is not going to stay with the victim. They have lots of jewelry that will stand a better chance of being overlooked.

In reply to NOHOME :

The only issue with the jewelry angle is being able to hide all the stuff they need to in order to get this to work from a DIY-perspective, to include the camera she wants to include.

At least with a backpack, it gives them a few different compartments to utilize and the ability to even "create" new pockets or something to sew up in order to hide the ugly bits.

But as far as actually implementing this...I'm not entirely sure it's possible. Baby monitors and what have you rely on bluetooth or wifi, which won't cut it. If you go cellular, you'd be better off on throwing in one of those cheap kid-oriented phones hooked to a chunky li-on battery pack that can be removed to charge overnight. Throw on a few different already-existing tracking programs w/ the GPS on and voila.