THE FIRST WEBCAM RECORDED A COFFEE MACHINE

In 1991, students and professors at the University of Cambridge, England, installed the first webcam in the room where the filter coffee machine was located, so that they could see if there was coffee in it via their computers.

The first camera recorded small photos in black and white with a resolution of 128 × 128 pixels.

The researchers wanted to allow employees who are in different parts of the building to see if there is coffee in the machine that was in the rest room. Professors and students got tired of returning empty cups when they went for coffee, where there was a coffee machine, so they decided to set up a camera that was connected to their computers. The camera recorded three shots per minute, so students could see on their computers whether it paid off to go for coffee or wait for the machine to charge.