Accelerometers & Gyros for N00bs

[ManicMechanic]

So just to make sure I have this straight, it sounds like an accelerometer would tell me when a robot has speeded up, slowed down or tilted. During autonomous, it would be useful for telling if I had unexpectedly hit an obstacle, causing the bot to slow down or tilt.

I might use a gyro in autonomous when trying to see if the bot had unexpectedly swerved, for example, from unbalanced motors, or from being hit from the side. I could use it to correct course if the robot is tending to veer off a straight line or desired course. Is that right?

Can you think of practical examples of using these sensors during operator control? The only sensors we have ever used during OC are limit sensors -- to stop an arm from rising when it reached the perfect height, and to stop a joystick-happy driver from grinding the gears.