I never got around to actually USING it, but I bought one of these:
some time back, since it seemed it would be a great tool to mount a camera on and have complete control of the direction. It's certainly cheeper than buying a high-end camera that has all the controls buit in. It's got a USB interface, and I ASSumed I would be able to remove the "weapon head" and mount the camera to it, then control the camera through that. If I wanted to move it from somewhere else, I could simply access that computer using remote software and move it that way.
Alas, my ambition was less than my time/inclination and the device still sits in the box. Maybe one of you enterprising camera people out there might take up the challenge ..