Gyroscopic Steering?

[purduephotog]

At the Rochester Regional there was one team with a tiny gyro that was designed to assist with steering- but it had been removed due to weight restrictions. -by Tiny I mean 6lb, maybe 10" in diameter. Mechanical Gyro, not electronic.

A search for 'gyroscopic steering' or 'gyro steering' don't turn up any useful hits- so I'm hoping someone will have a link or post to exactly that.

We're going to off-season build up our gyro using one of the old 3.5" cims - lets see how that works!

[Tristan Lall]

522, also at Rochester, used a 17-lb flywheel running at 4 000 rev/min to keep them pointing straight. I can't vouch for its effectiveness, however.

That's sort of the opposite of what you're describing.

[David Brinza]

Team 1388 in San Diego had a large flywheel on a gimbal. They seemed to turn very effectively with their gyro. Maybe they'll post more details???

[sanddrag]

I know 1388's gyro weighed about 11 or 12 pounds and was maybe 12 or 14 inches in diameter. It spun at about 2000 rpm. They demonstrated it for me while sitting on their cart, and it was able to jerk the cart left and right considerably. I'd definitely say it had some considerable effect.

[dantheflipman]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I know 1388's gyro weighed about 11 or 12 pounds and was maybe 12 or 14 inches in diameter. It spun at about 2000 rpm. They demonstrated it for me while sitting on their cart, and it was able to jerk the cart left and right considerably. I'd definitely say it had some considerable effect.

yeah those numbers are just about right

our gyro actually did have a considerable effect on driving the robot, when being chased by another bot we were able to literally flip a 180 degree turn and then keep driving backwards with ease, it really did help a ton with defensive driving. demonstrating that thing in the pits was fun, it's so loud that every time you turn it on it get's quite a bit of attention


too bad the motor that tilts it broke right before the last match in the finals at San Diego, with it our alliance would have had a greater chance at winning.. (that was the closest our team has gotten to winning in our 6 years ^_^ so i'm still stoked at how well we did.)

[purduephotog]

Originally Posted by dantheflipman

yeah those numbers are just about right

our gyro actually did have a considerable effect on driving the robot, when being chased by another bot we were able to literally flip a 180 degree turn and then keep driving backwards with ease, it really did help a ton with defensive driving. demonstrating that thing in the pits was fun, it's so loud that every time you turn it on it get's quite a bit of attention


too bad the motor that tilts it broke right before the last match in the finals at San Diego, with it our alliance would have had a greater chance at winning.. (that was the closest our team has gotten to winning in our 6 years ^_^ so i'm still stoked at how well we did.)

I would love to see some photos of it- perhaps even a video when/if you get it repaired.

We took a physics bicycle wheel demo and, calculating it's mass (heavily weighted welded iron) we estimated that at 3000 RPM we would exceed the tractive force of the wheels by 10x.

That roughly worked out to be able to flip the robot around in turning - in fact, it would flip around up to three robots. Of course 'spinning' the wheels to reduce friction would make it easier.

Sadly it was never built or further conceptualized. It may never be. But I still would love to see yours.

-For those that are asking or mention mems gyros, I'm talking about gyroscopic precession. I want the gyro to *turn* the robot- not to measure the turn. That means huge, massive spinning disks...

[spc295]

we are using our turret as a gyro and it works quite well.

[CJmango]

Originally Posted by purduephotog

-For those that are asking or mention mems gyros, I'm talking about gyroscopic precession. I want the gyro to *turn* the robot- not to measure the turn. That means huge, massive spinning disks...

Thanks! That makes so much more sense. Not being a participant in the game I guess I'm not as hard-core focused on improving driving power. I can see how huge gyro's could be useful with the low friction game. You guys are awfully smart.

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

We use the gyro in autonomous mode to correct our position while driving to a certain point on the field in case we get bumped by another robot.

I'm not familiar with the technical aspects of it, but I'll see if someone else on my team who has a bit more knowledge with it can comment here.

Until then... stay tuned!

Elgin, I believe the original post is talking about a mechanical gyro. I think you are talking about the electrical gyro sensor.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Vikesrock

Elgin, I believe the original post is talking about a mechanical gyro. I think you are talking about the electrical gyro sensor.

Yep.. I was thinking the KOP Gyro sensor, & not a home-made one. Oops!

[hiimcristhian]

we tried to have "gyroscopic steering" but then it was giving us problems so we decided to fix it in one place and use it as a flywheel and it helped us a lot

[Jared Russell]

1388's gyro won a well-deserved technical award and definitely gave their machine an edge on the field.

[purduephotog]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

522, also at Rochester, used a 17-lb flywheel running at 4 000 rev/min to keep them pointing straight. I can't vouch for its effectiveness, however.

That's sort of the opposite of what you're describing.

Yep, saw that one. Nice and straight- but not for steering.

[computerboi1503]

On the topic of Gyroscopes, we tried using one that the disc weight was near 10.5 lbs, and spun at a high rate of speed. I'm sure if Pat sees this thread he can give more accurate numbers. Anyways, we tried it, played with it all season, and it just was not effective enough, given our weight constraints. If we had a heavier disc we probably could have made it work.

+$0.02

-Nick

[hiimcristhian]

at first we had a custom made flywheel, but it was too heavy, then we pocket our more of it and it was still too heavy until we pocket out more and put holes on it until it weighted 4lbs 9oz power by a cim at full speed and it worked pretty well.