MaixCam

MaixCam is a channel for connecting Sipeed's MaixCAM and MaixCAM2 AI camera devices. It uses TCP sockets for bidirectional communication, supporting edge AI deployment scenarios.

Hardware

• MaixCAM — ~$50, AI camera with display
• MaixCAM2 — 4K AI camera

Configuration

{
  "channels": {
    "maixcam": {
      "enabled": true,
      "host": "0.0.0.0",
      "port": 18790,
      "allow_from": [],
      "reasoning_channel_id": ""
    }
  }
}

Field Reference

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
host	string	No	0.0.0.0	TCP server listen address
port	int	No	18790	TCP server listen port
allow_from	array	No	[]	Device ID whitelist (empty = allow all)
reasoning_channel_id	string	No	—	Route reasoning output to a separate channel

Run

picoclaw gateway

TCP Protocol

MaixCam communicates using a JSON-based protocol over TCP:

Message Types

Type	Direction	Description
person_detected	Device → PicoClaw	Person detection event with image data
heartbeat	Device → PicoClaw	Keep-alive signal
status	Device → PicoClaw	Device status update

Device Configuration

On the MaixCAM device, configure the TCP connection to point to your PicoClaw server:

• Server address: The IP address of the machine running PicoClaw
• Port: The port configured in port (default: 18790)

Use Cases

The MaixCam channel enables PicoClaw to run as an AI backend for edge devices:

• Smart Surveillance — MaixCAM sends image frames, PicoClaw analyzes them via vision models
• IoT Control — Devices send sensor data, PicoClaw coordinates responses
• Offline AI — Deploy PicoClaw on a local network for low-latency inference