Eyecam Is a Raspberry Pi-Powered Webcam That Looks Like a Human Eye

Marc Teyssier
(Image credit: Marc Teyssier)

Have a fear of being spied on? Then look out because the Eyecam is an eye-opening, open-source, Raspberry Pi-powered camera that eerily resembles a human eye. Half pet, half unused concept from David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ, this fleshy camera from Germany’s Saarland University is less of a Best Webcams contender and more of an art piece that highlights the surveillance we open ourselves up to when attaching sensors to personal devices.

“Imagine Eyecam waking up on its own,” the camera’s reveal video says. “Imagine bonding with Eyecam,” the video continues as a man pets the camera. “Imagine Eyecam becoming emotional,” the video eventually says, as the camera scowls.

The goal here, according to Eyecam creator Marc Teyssier, is to “broaden the discourse on sensing technologies and spark speculations on aestheticism and functions.”

That’s a lot of big words, but Teyssier’s website goes into deeper detail about the problems traditional cameras present by capturing data but not conveying emotion,. It also discusses the societal consequences of surrounding ourselves with sensing devices “up to the point where we become unaware of their presence.”

Well, Eyecam certainly does a good job of making me feel aware of it.

Kidding aside, Eyecam has a good point here. The idea of being spied on by a real human eye terrifies me, but keeping my webcam plugged in at all times without even putting a cover over it doesn’t (hackers, forget you read that).

Still, despite being branded as a “design fiction prototype,” you can totally build an Eyecam of your own right now, if for some reason you want to turn your monitor into a cyclops. All the software and .stl files for the Eyecam are free on Teyssier’s Github. You’ll need a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino Nano, a small camera and a 3D printer. You’ll also need plenty of gumption, since Teyssier’s build tutorial isn’t quite finished yet.

Michelle Ehrhardt

Michelle Ehrhardt is an editor at Tom's Hardware. She's been following tech since her family got a Gateway running Windows 95, and is now on her third custom-built system. Her work has been published in publications like Paste, The Atlantic, and Kill Screen, just to name a few. She also holds a master's degree in game design from NYU.

  • TheBeastFromOz
    Damn, this thing is disturbing, how did anyone think this was a good idea?
    Reply
  • Darkbreeze
    That's some Creepshow crap there. I can see it selling in novelty shops like Spencer's gifts or halloween specialty stores, and that's about it. I can't imagine anybody actually WANTING one of these sitting there looking back at them.
    Reply
  • bajgur
    For a second (before the eye open) i thought it was a fleshlight! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
    Reply
  • velocityg4
    Boy I thought the picture was bad. The video with it in action gets really disturbing. It also made me suddenly realize how disturbing something like Data would really be to people.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    That is just creepy.
    Reply