An Auto-Leveling Gyro Camera For Motorcycle Enthusiasts

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[Saftari] was inspired by the technology used to capture video in the MotoGP World Championship races to create these instructables on how to build an auto-leveling Gyro camera. The setup he developed maintains the camera at a consistent level perpendicular to the earth no matter how much the motorcycle angles against the ground when turning.

The components involved include an Arduino Uno, a Triple Axis Accelerometer, a digital servo, and a Gyro breakout board. A bracket was built to house and secure the camera to the side of the vehicle. 2mm acrylic was used for this and was bent by heating up the material. Once complete, test runs were completed showcasing the capabilities of this type of Do-It-Yourself rig.

The quality of the video after the break is a little bit blurry, but it proves the point that a Gyro camera setup can be built at home:

17 thoughts on “An Auto-Leveling Gyro Camera For Motorcycle Enthusiasts

  1. Not for germany – Music inside video = youtube blocks video because of GEMA sh*t.
    Please provide different portal for video or remove music.
    Other than that – can’t comment because I can not see anything in action ;)

      1. That’s not the point. I could use every mean necessary to watch one of these videos.
        People need to understand that Music in videos is BAD when it comes to youtube. Just avoid it if you don’t own the right. I have proxytube or stuff like that installed on my desktop PC. Try that on a mobile device like my windows phone (whoops – not working) or on another platform and you’re done. Someone wants to show something to the world (and that is more than his country) and germany is excluded because of problems mentioned. I cant watch it, so I don’t watch it and can’t review the results.

        That is the message that needs to be understood. Not that I could watch it if I would care enough!

  2. First, remove the music, commercial music never EVER adds to a video like this and only causes problems for playback.
    Second, that is worse than what I get with a standard go-pro on a real motorcycle.
    Third, that is not a motorcycle, which is why it is massively unstable, it has no real suspension on it to smooth things out.

    Lastly Motor GP is on glass smooth tracks not pothole riddled streets, unless you use a real gyro this stuff does not work. Servos are far too slow, real spinning Gyro that the camera is mounted to, heck even an old hard drive that you simply use the motor and platters for the gyro will work fantastic for this rollerblade wheels make good rotational bearings.

      1. As an auto-level I don’t think it was that bad. If it was attached to something with a better suspension (like your motorcycle) it could work well. The motorcycle suspension takes care of most of the jitter and the servos keep it mostly level with the horizon. Essentially combining it with your video?

    1. Complaints are valid – the Instructable includes a lot of the arguments in the comments and some good references/methods to address them.

      I’m still going to give it a (weak) thumbs up just because of a reasonably good writeup and it’s a start for rookies to play with the concept (most of whom can see how poorly it works in a highly dynamic environment).

  3. I hate to be “that” guy, but I kept clicking forward to see when he actually turned the gyro on. Then I realized the video was showcasing it working the whole time. Not a very successful hack in my opinion.

  4. A mechanical simple gimbal with a weight added would do the same wouldn’t it? And that way you have money left to buy a better camera (the video is pretty awful in that respect).

    But it this be useful for other applications though.

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