Steering control without a gyro

[oddjob]

Originally Posted by BradAMiller

WPILib will work fine with the Sparkfun parts. Be aware that the max rate parameter is important when selecting a gyro. If it's rated at 80 degrees/sec maximum rate, and your robot turns faster than that, it will lose the heading just like a speedometer being "pinned" going too fast. Choose one that has a rate just slightly larger than the fastest you expect to see your robot rotate.

Just to add to that, if a fast robot clips your robot and makes it spin fast, your robot can lose its heading. If heading is super important for your robot code, consider using a magnetic compass to provide a lower bandwidth correction to "reset" the gyro heading.

(e.g Davantech CMPS03 or Hitechnic NXT)