![accelerometer vs gyroscope accelerometer vs gyroscope](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AHx4r.png)
Okay, now that you understand how the gyroscope works, let’s further explore a variant used in your mobile devices. Large gyroscopes are also used to stabilize boats and even satellites during their flight path!
![accelerometer vs gyroscope accelerometer vs gyroscope](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1fWgyHVXXXXbsXXXXq6xXFXXXC/MPU-6050-Module-3-Axis-Gyroscope-Accelerometer-Module-for-MPU-6050.jpg)
This makes the Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) used in unmanned vehicles.
#Accelerometer vs gyroscope free#
If you mount two gyroscopes with their axles at right angles to one another on a platform, and place the platform inside a set of gimbals, the platform will remain completely rigid, as the gimbals are free to rotate in any axis. Precession, is what keeps the spin axis oriented and thus helps in a number of fields like navigating unmanned aerial vehicles, operating your devices, space shuttles etc and has also been used by a motorcycle manufacturer to invent a 2-wheel bike which uses two gyroscopes to remain upright.
![accelerometer vs gyroscope accelerometer vs gyroscope](http://www.femtech.dk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_20180309_111301.jpg)
If an external force is applied, the spin axis transfers the repercussions (hence the English word) of that force to the rotor, which in turn, passes the force to the external framework (gimbal) causing it to rotate at right angles to the initial external force applied keeping the spin axis in form, thereby maintaining the orientation. This is called Precession and it creates a fixed-orientation even after external forces are applied to disorient the spin axis. The spinning of the rotor means that any change in orientation affects all points on the rotor equally, causing the rotor to spin on a fixed axis. In the diagram above we can see that the tilt has not changed the direction of the rotor and has been compensated by the gimbal. Precession (no, we haven’t misspelt ‘precision’ - that’s a different thing, though etymologically speaking, it may just have it’s origin in Precession!) is the action in a gyroscope that keeps the spin axis oriented even after external forces are applied to disorient the spin axis so when a deforming force is applied to the spin axis, instead of rotating the axis itself, it rotates the structure surrounding the metallic disc. The gyroscope in it’s simplest form is a rotor on a spin axis, enclosed in a frame to minimize external torques called gimbal and the external gyroscopic frame.