“An easy and interesting project in which you use a MPU6050 (Accelerometer + Gyro) sensor module to control a simple 2-axis Servo Robotic Arm
What is an MPU-6050 sensor module?
The InvenSense MPU-6050 is a low-cost, highly accurate inertial measurement unit (IMU) with six degrees of freedom (DOF). IMUs can measure acceleration, inertia and a number of other parameters to allow you to determine their spatial position and velocity. It contains a MEMS 3-axis accelerometer and a MEMS 3-axis gyro in a single chip. It also has an onboard Digital Motion Processor (DMP) which processes complex 6-axis MotionFusion algorithms. This sensor module is also capable of accessing external magnetometers or other sensors through an auxiliary master IIC bus to provide complete 9-axis MotionFusion output. The MPU-6050 sensor module also consists of a temperature sensor but it’s less accurate.
Examples where MPU-6050 may be used
Automotive industry - To deploy airbags, Vehicle roll handling
Game controllers - Wii remote/ Wiimote
Gimbal/ Camera stabilisation system
Hard drives
Personal Digital Assistants - Smartphones, tablets
Robotics
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) - Drone, helicopters
Vehicle Navigation
Accelerometer
This device is used to measure acceleration, the rate of change of velocity of a particular object. An object travelling at constant speed will have zero acceleration.
The accelerometer in MPU-6050 is a triple-axis accelerometer which means it senses acceleration on the X, Y and Z axis.
Gyroscope
This is the other key component in the MPU-6050 and can measure the angular momentum or rotation around the X, Y and Z axis.
The MEMS gyroscope consists of three sensors, one per axis, that produce a voltage when they are rotated. This voltage is internally sampled using a 16-bit analog to digital converter.”