Planet Arduino

When you use a “gyroscope” in Arduino and robotics projects, generally this means a small IMU that leverages several methods of sensing to tell how a device is moving. However, physical gyroscopes are able to employ a spinning disk stay upright mechanically. Could one be combined with advanced electronics to stabilize a robot or other craft?

James Bruton answers this question in the video below, going from a “bare” gyroscope, to an unpowered gimbal, and finally to a simulated boat. This utilizes a powered gimbal for stabilization that’s tilted in one axis by a DYNAMIXEL servo. Angle is measured using an Arduino Pro Mini along with an MPU-6050 IMU, and the gyroscope is controlled by an Arduino Mega.

You can check out the progression of this fun experiment in the video below, and find code/CAD info on GitHub.

The post Spinning gyroscope “boat” stabilization appeared first on Arduino Blog.

A spirit level, you know the kind of level with a little bubble in a tube of fluid, is a basic construction tool. [DesignBuildDestroy] took an Arduino, a gyroscope chip, and an OLED, and made a 3D printed level with no bubble, but it does have a nice digital display.

It is funny when you realize that at one time a gyroscope was a high tech item reserved for missiles and aircraft. Now you can grab a six-axis sensor for pennies. Even, better, the code used in the project can offload the Arduino for a lot of processing.

Initially, the device lived on a breadboard, which is always a good idea to get the kinks out of things. Thanks to the OLED, the Arduino can calibrate itself without a PC and do other tricks. The display is easy to read, but we thought there should be a mode that shows a little bubble made with an O character. Seems like that would be a fun rainy day project. We did like the automatic screen rotation, though.

We’ve seen a nice level done with a Raspberry Pi before. If you need something smaller, how about something the size of a dime?

Gyroscopes and accelerometers are the primary sensors at the heart of an IMU, also known as an internal measurement unit — an electronic sensor device that measures the orientation, gravitational forces and velocity of a multicopter, and help you keep it in the air using Arduino.

Two videos made by Joop Brokking, a Maker with passion for RC model ‘copters, clearly explain how to program your own IMU so that it can be used for self-balancing your drone without Kalman filters,  libraries, or complex calculations.

Auto leveling a multicopter is pretty challenging. It means that when you release the pitch and roll controls on your transmitter the multicopter levels itself. To get this to work the flight controller of the multicopter needs to know exactly which way is down. Like a spirit level that is on top of the multicopter for the pitch and roll axis.

Very often people ask me how to make an auto level feature for their multicopter. The answer to a question like this is pretty involved and cannot be explained in one email. And that is why I made this video series.

You can find the bill of materials and code here.

A clever design for a homemade, radio-controlled BB-8 droid replica.

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The post Yet Another Cool BB-8 Droid Project appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

Learn how a team of students created the first Google Android-based autonomous R/C car, able to detect lanes, avoid obstacles, self-park, and more.

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The post Build Your Own Android-Powered Self Driving R/C Car appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

praveen @ circuitstoday.com:

This article is about interfacing gyroscope to arduino. Gyroscope is a device used for measuring the angular velocity in the three axes. It works under the concepts of angular momentum and can be used to determine the orientation of an object. Typical applications of gyroscope includes missile guidance, flight control, smart phones, game station joy sticks etc. Mechanical gyroscopes, MEMS gyroscope, optic fiber gyroscope, ring laser gyroscope.

Interfacing gyroscope to arduino - [Link]