By: Tate McGeary

The MPU-6050 is a 3-axis gyroscope and accelerometer, that will be used to stabilize the microBiPed. It is important that when using the MPU-6050 the libraries provided by Jeff Rowberg, unless one wants to set-up the appropriate registries and pins themselves. The library provided by Jeff Rowberg allows for almost immediate integration of the MPU-6050 into any system simply by calling:

#include “Wire.h”
#include “I2Cdev.h”
#include “MPU6050.h”

It is important that the user of the MPU-6050 understands that the chip uses I2C configuration. That means the pins SDA and SCL must be utilized for the microprocessor to receive information. For the Arduino Micro, pins 2 and 3 respectively.

For the microBiPed it was important to ensure the MPU-6050 worked with the TLC5940 and could aid the Arduino Micro in correcting the servos for stabilization. This process was done by modifying an existing code posted by Luka Gabrić. The code was modified to use the TLC5940 so that the Arduino Micro could make corrections to a servo along an axis.

Below is a video of the TLC5940, MPU-6050, and Arduino Micro working in conjunction to control a servo.

Importance:

The significance of this for the microBiPed groups, means the group can now subtly modify the orientation of the robot by having the MPU-6050 control 4 servos. The 2 servos (ankles) along the x-axis, and 2 more servos (tibia) along the y-axis. It also means that the group may be able to modify how the BiPed reacts to being pushed.

At the current moment, the code used for the microBiPed relays on a certain acceleration threshold to be met in order for the microBiPed to correct its offset. However, it is the idea of the group that by using the direction of change as well as slight change of motion that the change may be able to occur at a lower threshold. Results for this idea are pending.