Motorized Gimbal

The purpose of this project was to design, fabricate, and program a motorized gimbal using LabVIEW

Initial CAD Model

The design for the gimbal was based on this model. In figure 2, we created a negative of the servo horn into the servo arms along with a screw hole to allow for better grip. In figure 3, we wrapped the servo arm all the way around for stability. The phone holder arm in figure 4 had a diameter slightly larger than the phone holder to have a secure fit.

Fig 3. Servo Arm

Fig 1. Full CAD Model

Fig 2. Negative Servo Horn

Fig 4. Phone Holder Arm

Wiring Diagram

LabVIEW vi

The vi is broken up into 2 parts. The first part interprets the data from the accelerometer. The second part adjusts the duty cycle accordingly. The accelerometer data is integrated twice in order to obtain position. It's done separately for both X and Y and then the position is multiplied to adjust the duty cycle. This process is contained in a while loop to consistently check and adjust the servos

Full Setup Demo

Data Collection

The accelerometer was taped onto a flat surface of the gimbal against the phone holder. We recorded position data from the phone's IMU using the PhyPhox app. Below is the collected data showing that even as the position moved away from 0, it adjusted itself back to the original position.

Skills

LabVIEW || OnShape || 3D Printing || Electronics || Motor Control

Results/Lessons Learned

There was a max displacement of 16 degrees. This was due to moving the gimbal around to quickly, which showed one of its limitations
Interfacing LabVIEW with a microcontroller like an Arduino. While LabVIEW is great at data acquistion, its form factor isn't ideal for something outside of testing due to its many wires.
Verify testing procedure is setup correctly. The power supply voltage was incorrectly set too high resulting the accelerometer burning out.