Project Title: Motion Detection Telegram Bot

Description

This project is a motion detection system that uses a Raspberry Pi (or similar Linux system) with a camera to monitor for motion. When motion is detected, it captures a photo and sends a notification with the photo to a Telegram chat. It also provides Telegram bot commands to control motion detection, take snapshots, and retrieve the latest media.

Features

• Motion Detection: Uses the motion daemon for efficient motion detection.

• Telegram Notifications: Sends instant notifications to your Telegram chat when motion is detected, including a photo of the event.

• Continuous Recording: motion daemon can be configured to continuously record videos.

• Telegram Bot Commands:

  • /start: Starts motion detection and the Telegram bot.
  • /stop: Stops motion detection.
  • /check: Checks if motion detection is currently running.
  • /lastphoto: Sends the latest captured photo.
  • /lastvideo: Sends the latest captured video.
  • /help: Displays a list of available commands.

• Rate Limiting and Error Handling: Implements safe message sending with retry mechanisms to handle Telegram API rate limits and network errors.

• Configuration: Easily configurable via motion.conf file and environment variables.

• Logging: Comprehensive logging for debugging and monitoring.

Prerequisites

• Hardware:
  • A Linux-based system (e.g., Raspberry Pi, Laptop running Linux).
  • A camera connected to the system (e.g., USB webcam, Raspberry Pi camera module).
• Software:
  • Python 3.x
  • motion daemon (installation instructions below)
  • fswebcam (if using laptop webcam for snapshots, install if needed: sudo apt-get install fswebcam)
  • Python libraries (install using pip):

    pip install python-telegram-bot python-telegram-bot[ext] requests psutil

• Telegram Bot:
  • Create a Telegram bot using BotFather and obtain a BOT_TOKEN.
  • Get your Telegram chat ID (TELEGRAM_ID). You can use a bot like @userinfobot to find your chat ID.
• Environment Variables:
  • Set the following environment variables in your system:
    • BOT_TOKEN: Your Telegram bot token.
    • TELEGRAM_ID: Your Telegram chat ID.

Installation and Setup

1. Install motion daemon:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install motion

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone [https://github.com/GokulrajKS/Motion-detection.git](https://github.com/GokulrajKS/Motion-detection.git)
   cd motion # Or the project directory name if different

3. Configure motion daemon:

   • Copy the provided motion.conf to the desired configuration directory. A common location is within your project directory or /etc/motion/motion.conf.
   • Important: Edit motion.conf:
     • Adjust videodevice to your camera device (e.g., /dev/video0, /dev/video1).
     • Modify width, height, framerate as needed.
     • Verify target_dir is set to the path where you want to store pictures and videos. This should align with the pics_path variable in engine.py and motion.py.
     • Tune motion detection parameters (threshold, minimum_motion_frames, etc.) as needed.

4. Set Environment Variables:

   • You need to set BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_ID environment variables.

   • You can set them in your .bashrc, .zshrc, or directly before running the scripts:

     Example (in terminal before running):

     export BOT_TOKEN="YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
     export TELEGRAM_ID="YOUR_TELEGRAM_ID"
     python engine.py

     For persistent environment variables (add to .bashrc or .zshrc and source the file):

     echo 'export BOT_TOKEN="YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"' >> ~/.bashrc
     echo 'export TELEGRAM_ID="YOUR_TELEGRAM_ID"' >> ~/.bashrc
     source ~/.bashrc

5. Run the Telegram Bot Engine:

   python engine.py

   The bot should start polling for commands. Use /start command in Telegram to start motion detection.

Configuration Files and Scripts

• engine.py: The main Python script that runs the Telegram bot. It handles bot commands, interacts with the motion daemon, and sends Telegram messages.
• motion.conf: Configuration file for the motion daemon. Defines camera settings, recording options, motion detection parameters, and specifies motion.py to be executed on motion detection. Important: Ensure the paths within this file, especially target_dir, log_file, process_id_file, and on_motion_detected script path, are correctly configured for your system.
• motion.py: Python script executed by motion when motion is detected. It sends Telegram notifications with photos. Important: Verify the paths for pics_path, last_notification_file, and last_photo_sent_file within this script match your intended file locations.
• pics/: Directory where captured photos and videos are stored. This path is defined in both engine.py and motion.conf and should be consistent.
• motion_last_notification.txt: File used for cooldown mechanism to prevent excessive notifications. Ensure the path in motion.py is correct.
• motion_last_photo_sent.txt: File to track the last photo sent to avoid duplicate notifications. Ensure the path in motion.py is correct.
• /tmp/motion/motion.pid: Process ID file for the motion daemon. This is a common temporary file path on Linux systems.
• [project_directory]/motion.log: Log file for the motion daemon. This path is configured in motion.conf and is relative to your project directory in the provided example, but can be configured to another location.
• /tmp/motion_notification.log: Log file for the motion.py script. This is a common temporary file path on Linux systems, configured within motion.py.

Usage

After starting engine.py and setting up the environment variables, you can use the following commands in your Telegram chat with the bot:

• /start - Starts motion detection and the bot.
• /stop - Stops motion detection.
• /check - Checks if motion detection is running.
• /lastphoto - Requests and sends the latest captured photo.
• /lastvideo - Requests and sends the latest captured video.
• /help - Displays this help message with available commands.

Troubleshooting

• Check Logs: Examine the log files. The motion daemon log is typically found at the path configured in motion.conf (e.g., [project_directory]/motion.log), and the motion.py script log is at /tmp/motion_notification.log. Check these files for errors.
• Permissions: Ensure the scripts have execute permissions (chmod +x motion.py and chmod +x engine.py if needed). Check directory permissions for the pics folder and other directories where the scripts need to write files.
• Environment Variables: Verify that BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_ID are correctly set in your environment.
• Camera Device: Double-check the videodevice path in motion.conf and ensure it corresponds to your camera device.
• Dependencies: Ensure all Python libraries (listed in Prerequisites) and the motion daemon are installed.
• Telegram Bot: Verify the bot token is correct and the bot is not blocked. Test sending a message to your bot directly through the Telegram Bot API if needed.
• Network: Check internet connectivity for sending Telegram messages.