When using WiFi the ESP32 can use more current than is supplied via USB through these devices resulting in the module crashing and rebooting. The ESP32-CAM doesn’t come with a USB connector so you need either a CP2102 or a FT232RL USB to TTL Serial Converter to connect it to your PC. The face recognition code has been updated in the most recent versions (2.x.x) and no-longer works on ESP32 and ESP32-S2 based boards like this. To do this, open the Arduino IDE and in the menu: Tools > Board:xxxxx > Boards Manager:

If you’ve never used an ESP32 board in the Arduino IDE you need to follow the first part of this tutorial: ESP32 Built-in OLED Heltec WiFi Kit 32 If you already have the ESP32 boards available in your IDE then you just need to update to the latest version of the board libraries. Adding or Updating the ESP32 Range in the Arduino IDE There are other ESP32 based camera modules available that should work if the pins are set in the sketch. The ESP32-CAM module features an ESP32-S chip, an OV2640 camera and a microSD card slot. Setting up the ESP32-CAM with the Arduino IDE and Camera Web Server example.

Esp32 cam pinout download