Automated Gyro Wheel Toy (Version 2) with Pot, Smoothing and Bike Reed Switch

Yeah, it is kind of jerky.

Yeah, it is kind of jerky. Not sure how to fix that. Mounts are probably too flexible, linkage is too flexible, counterweight is off. And it bounces terribly at the bottom of the stroke. Thats what I get for using fishing poles and hot glue.

I am sure ,there is

I am sure ,there is somewhere a post in LMR related to the smooth servo movement. I tested it myself,and it really is very smooch. Please search for that. It will work just like a charm. 

Here is

Here is some 

https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/easing-servo-movements

https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/node/31697

Lets see if these work !

**I can’t quite work out . . . **

I can’t quite work out what that twangy thing attached to the angle bracket is doing.  Is it a limit switch of some sort?

Surely, that’s what you need, either mechanical or an optical interruptor type to detect when the wheel is at it’s low point and then kick off a new cycle (possibly with a programmed delay) so the servo operation would be self regulating. 

Edit

I’ve just noticed the croc clip on the frame.  So the wire frame hitting the spring completes a circuit. Is that doing anything at the moment?

The spring is sensing

when the gyro wheel rolls by. It was more evident in his first video.

Yes, my original plan, and

Yes, my original plan, and still is, was to use a reed switch mounted on the gyro frame in place of the twangy switch (I like that). But I am at a new school in China and dont have any students yet who can order me electronic stuff from taobao.com, and I couldnt wait so came up with the twangy switch inthe interim. I am using a programmed delay, but now controlled with the pot.

My future version will use many reed switches mounted on a circular pad attached to one side of the gyro frame so that whenever the magnetic wheel axle rolls around it will activate the switches.

Ok, I will use a smoothing

Ok, I will use a smoothing routine next.

Related to the NilsB post.

I finally figured out how to calculate the curve. It is a simple matter of looping through the proper set of numbers to get the required curves. If you add a duration, you can stretch out the curves. You may want to consider adding a step value to your loop too. Figuring out the degree numbers you need to loop through is just a matter of looking at the degree numbers of a sine wave.

omit the smooch and add

omit the smooch and add smooth. Lol !

Nice toy…

you have a very nice toy there and the sound and operation of it reminds me of an indigenous foot operated husking/grinding wooden apparatus called ‘dhiki’ from the foot of the Himalayas in Nepal-minus the gyro wheel of course…haha.

Nepali_Women_with_Dhiki.jpg

I wonder if you could use solar to make it go on for ever....

Maybe in place of the gyro

Maybe in place of the gyro wheel I could use a prayer wheel.

I will get around to this

I will get around to this eventually - I have to do lesson plans - crap.

I wonder two things:

1. If I can get by by using a simple smoothing routine without the curve. I have used that before to smooth out vibrations so I could use a tilt sensor.

2. Will this slow the servo down so much that it wont have any momentum to throw the wheel or will it just be so slow that the top speed of the wheel wont be much.

Will try anyway.

Yeah, I couldn’t find a

Yeah, I couldn’t find a smooch routine.

Just a note about something

Just a note about something that happened in the video, it was going as fast as it could in one direction then when delay was increased again, it stopped and went in other direction even faster. Anyone find that interesting or know why that is happening? I don’t anything about physics.

Haha, that wouldnt be out of

Haha, that wouldnt be out of place either…

Yeah

One way it is throwing action. The other way it is receiving . The gyro momentum seems to be adding to the servo movement on throwing while subtracting on the other side. Slower side, it is pointing towards the axis of rotation. Faster way, it is pointing away from it probably bringing in centrifugal forces. Of course all these forces are adding up or subtracting on the servo movement force… in my observation…edited …

Funny the reversed run. I am

Funny the reversed run. I am not understanding why but that’s why live is so interesting :-) 

The speed difference is why I mentioned the jerky movement

I would imagine you could get a better handle on what might be happening if your throws weren’t so wibblely-wobblely timey-wimey. (Bonus points if you know where that phrase came from. :D)

Sounds like it came from

Sounds like it came from someone who wears bowties.

Found out that the

Found out that the rattleback top exhibits the same kind of behavior (perhaps the same) in that it has a preferred direction of spin and will stop spinning in one direction and start in the other, sometimes even if started in either direction it will reverse spin.

Does not seem to be any generally accepted theory for that behavior.

That said, I need to install the smoothing thingy.