I have done several Arduino projects including creating a controller for my coin-op game to control a marionette.
I have a gimbal stabilizer for my DSLR camera, and it works great but these stabilizers do nothing to stabilize the up and down bobbing of when one walks with it.
I would like to dampen or eliminate that up and down motion. I'm sure I can figure out a mechanical mechanism, but my question is, is there a way that the Arduino (and appropriate sensor(s)) can detect and control for that up and down bobbing motion from walking/running?
I'm thinking stepper motor and sensors, but what sensors, and what should be the algorithmic approach to solving the problem?
Any ideas or insights are most appreciated. Thanks guys!
An accelerometer will detect acceleration (in any desired direction), and could be useful. In the Z direction there will always be a background due to the Earth's gravity, and that will need to be taken into account.
Uniform motion cannot be detected by an accelerometer.
I am using a 3 axis gimbal stabilizer that uses stepper motors to stabilize a DSLR camera in 3 axes. I would say that I need to dampen about 3" of movement, strictly on the vertical (what we in the video industry call the "Z" axis).
The system would need to respond as close to instantaneously as possible. The 3-axis gimbal device stabilizes rotationally, which lends itself to quick response. My system would likely have to respond linearly, as it is designed to simply correct for straight up and down movement.
The weight of the rig is probably about 3 lbs, so we are talking considerable weight.
This will sound rather silly, but it illustrates the need... If you hold a live chicken out in front of you, and bob it up and down by a few inches, its head will remain perfectly level as it has natural stabilization built in. Someone once mounted a camera to a chicken's head to illustrate how perfectly the head naturally stabilizes.
I am talking about considerable mass, so I may be asking more than is physically possible. I might have to resort to springs and levers and forego the electronic aspect. Thanks for taking an interest.
I'm struggling to visualize a system that could identify the need for a correction without an error having been detected. And if an error is detected it would surely be visible in the film?
Maybe a useful question would be "how much vertical motion would be acceptable before a correction is needed?" For example would 10mm of Z motion be detectable on the film? What about 2mm?
You might research how the hobby drones are able to hold a verticle position. If your camera rig is heavy now, just wait until you add the extra ingredients. This will probably require a stable base so the mechanism has something solid to push/pull against.