Both of these options might work a little better on a laptop, but there’s no getting around the unflattering angle. Clark, A.B., Mathivannan, V., Rojas, N.: A continuum manipulator for open-source surgical robotics research and shared development. IEEE Trans. Med. Robot. Bionics 3(1), 277–280 (2021) The specification of a local exhaust ventilation arm is more dependent on the specific activity it is being used for, as opposed to whether it is being used for the extraction of dust or fumes. For example, our food-grade extraction arms come equipped with either a stainless steel food-grade hood or an ATEX hood. This type of hood positional device is essential for the food industry when there is a risk of exposure to flours, grains, powders, and other airborne dust contaminates.

Raising your laptop as shown above is also about practicality - it keeps the screen of your laptop as close to vertical as possible, something I found to be fairly important when using all of the mounts in this category. As you’d expect from hanging something as substantial as an iPhone to the top or side of your MacBook screen, the centre of gravity shifts quite dramatically as the screen moves away from perpendicular. I tried using a gimbal as a webcam, but it was a pretty impractical choice. The height of the gimbal isn’t adjustable, so you’ll either end up with your camera too high, or too low for your screen (as the image above shows, this works a little better with a laptop than a desktop, but neither is ideal). Yes, your gimbal will keep your phone stabilised while it’s being held, but, provided you're not moving your webcam around while you're talking, there really isn’t any benefit to this feature for webcam purposes. Additionally, the gimbal I used periodically turned itself off, causing the phone to drop down, and inserting an iPhone XS Max into the gimbal kept triggering SOS calls. You’d also need to keep your gimbal charged in advance of your calls. These let you rest your phone in place, rather than holding it securely. As such, they’re easy to get your phone in and out of, but they will wobble when you type. I found it was more difficult to get a good angle when using this slotted holder than with any other mount, as the phone couldn’t be adjusted as easily with these mounts, and would often fall into a different position, anyway. So, you're thinking about using your phone or tablet as a webcam. You've probably got a cable. We hope you've got Camo. And maybe you need a mount or a stand. I bought just about every type of stand on the market, and even tried constructing some makeshift ones from things I had around the house. In this guide, I'm going to run through which ones might work for you, and why. Want to look better on your video calls? We’ve put together an article full of tips to help you look your best on your webcam here.

Ouyang, B., Liu, Y., Sun, D.: Design of a three-segment continuum robot for minimally invasive surgery. Robot. Biomim. 3, 2 (2016) An increased surface area of all joints gives a much lighter feel to the extraction arm, allowing for easier positioning and support in any required position.

Our LEV arms are fitted with a single or twin spring supporting mechanism to accommodate greater lengths and larger weights.

This Flexi arm had been designed to take up to 2kg of weight making it versatile to hold a range of photographic accessories and small lights. Zhong, Y., Yu, B., Yu, H.: Design and study of scissor-mechanism-based pneumatic actuator with a characteristic of bidirectional contraction. IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 27(4), 2080–2088 (2022) Ata, A.A., Haraz, E.H., Rizk, A.E.A., Hanna, S.N.: Kinematic analysis of a single link flexible manipulator. In: 2012 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, pp. 852–857. Athens, Greece (2012)

Knight, G., Piotrowski, T., Shuford, J.: The role of robotics in manufacturing. Indust. Robot Int. J. 44(2), 155–163 (2017)

The Ergotron Difference

That's an iPhone 13 Max mounted in landscape on a MacBook Air on the left, and an iPhone 13 in portrait on a MacBook Air on the right. Features a Flexible Adjustable Arm that allows you to bend into an array of different positions making it effortless to position your equipment where you need it to be. Here’s this flexible arm being used with a 16-inch Macbook Pro and an iMac. When used with a laptop, you can get a better angle than the built-in webcam, which is always going to be under your face, rather than parallel to it.