Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
In the early 1990s, researchers in the Cambridge Computer Lab set up a webcam so that they could keep an eye on the Department coffee pot. When they linked it not just to the Department network but to the internet, the livestream of the coffee pot went viral and attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers from all round the world. It was one of the first examples of how a camera linked to a computer could take a user to a place in the real world and let them see what was going on there. This video tells the story of this pioneering webcam – and also tells us about how we are using cameras linked to computers today, for example to automatically monitor and observe farm animals and analyse the images to spot facial expressions that identify animals who are ill or in pain.
In the early 1990s, researchers in the Cambridge Computer Lab set up a webcam so that they could keep an eye on the Department coffee pot. When they linked it not just to the Department network but to the internet, the livestream of the coffee pot went viral and attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers from all round the world. It was one of the first examples of how a camera linked to a computer could take a user to a place in the real world and let them see what was going on there. This video tells the story of this pioneering webcam – and also tells us about how we are using cameras linked to computers today, for example to automatically monitor and observe farm animals and analyse the images to spot facial expressions that identify animals who are ill or in pain.
