Difference between revisions of "S16: Camera Gimbal"

Revision as of 02:02, 24 May 2016

Grading Criteria

Abstract

The ‘Camera Gimbal’ is an active stabilization system for camera phones. Smartphones and handheld devices encounter issues when slight movements are encountered when a user attempts to take an image or record a video. Such issues include blurring of images and/or video. This gadget will be able to stabilize a phone by using three low RPM brushless motors that are actively controlled using PID with an accelerometer and magnetometer as feedback to the system. Using this gadget, users will achieve crisp clean photos/videos without any additional hassle.

Objectives & Introduction

The objective of this project was to create a 3-axis self-stabilizing phone holder, or gimbal. Entirely 3D printed, the system can stabilize any standard sized smartphone that is mounted using several neodymium magnets. The system utilizes 3 DC servo motors, one per each XYZ-axis of rotation to account for all degrees of motion; each motor is controlled through PWM from the SJ One Board running FreeRTOS. Using the MPU-9250 IMU, sensor data is used to compute gimbal orientation, which is mapped to PWM values as shown below. By applying filter algorithms to account for drift and/or noise, near accurate stabilization was made possible.

Team Members & Responsibilities

• Matthew Boyd
  • Solidworks & controls systems
• Ronald Cheng
  • 9DoF solution

Schedule

Parts List & Cost

Design & Implementation

The design section can go over your hardware and software design. Organize this section using sub-sections that go over your design and implementation.

Hardware Design

Discuss your hardware design here. Show detailed schematics, and the interface here.

Hardware Interface

In this section, you can describe how your hardware communicates, such as which BUSes used. You can discuss your driver implementation here, such that the Software Design section is isolated to talk about high level workings rather than inner working of your project.

Software Design

Show your software design. For example, if you are designing an MP3 Player, show the tasks that you are using, and what they are doing at a high level. Do not show the details of the code. For example, do not show exact code, but you may show psuedocode and fragments of code. Keep in mind that you are showing DESIGN of your software, not the inner workings of it.

Implementation

This section includes implementation, but again, not the details, just the high level. For example, you can list the steps it takes to communicate over a sensor, or the steps needed to write a page of memory onto SPI Flash. You can include sub-sections for each of your component implementation.

Testing & Technical Challenges

Describe the challenges of your project. What advise would you give yourself or someone else if your project can be started from scratch again? Make a smooth transition to testing section and described what it took to test your project.

Include sub-sections that list out a problem and solution, such as:

My Issue #1

Discuss the issue and resolution.

Conclusion

Conclude your project here. You can recap your testing and problems. You should address the "so what" part here to indicate what you ultimately learnt from this project. How has this project increased your knowledge?

Project Video

Upload a video of your project and post the link here.

Project Source Code

• Sourceforge Source Code Link

References

Acknowledgement

Any acknowledgement that you may wish to provide can be included here.

References Used

List any references used in project.

Appendix

You can list the references you used.