[MrB]

Originally posted by The Lucas


As for the tilt sensor itself, I assume you want to use the gyro from the kit. Unfortunately that thing is no match for the 5 gyros on the actual Segway. It is a yaw rate sensor (gives the rate of angular change) so you can integrate the gyro to determine the tilt.

I agree, but I didn't even think they would have gotten this far. I would like to look into integrating a real gyro to hold balance, but have not yet had the time to research a part yet.

The gyro has a small flaw which may create major problems in a balancing. The analog value giving by the gyro has a tendency to move up or down by one digit without moving. This could cause your integration to drift off center and your machine to lose balance during extended running periods. For example say your gyro had 127 for a neutral value. It may jump to 128 for a few cycles and then back down to 127. This would make your integration value a little too high. If it does this enough, the value may become way too high and fail (and fall ). If this is a problem then a re-centering button might become necessary. This brings up another problem: If you don't have handle bars, where will you put steering and other controls? I suggest wrist watch controls . It would be so Bond-like to twist a potentiometer on your wrist to turn your machine. Maybe team 007 should consider that for their operator interface next year! [/b]

hahahaha, yes this is a BIG issue. What we do is hold the platform "level" during power up, and a rider "jumps" on staying as balanced as possible and then can tilt left and right, there are no controls for turning yet, but we were going to build a comntrol shaft and handle bars like the segway, although the wrist watch controls would be a great idea as well :-), but i think the handle bars will make the initial design device easier to control.

I wish we had the time and money to work on this project every day... it will have to wait until time permits...