Gyro Boy using iPhone as a Gyroscope

[RedRoundRobot]

I really liked the Gyro Boy built from the EDU version but unfortunately I only have the Retail version so... no Gyroscope. Then the idea came : use my iPhone as a sensor and transmit the data to the EV3. So I developed this app that communicates with the EV3 and sends it sensor info such as Gyroscope, Accelerometer and Compass.

Building the Gyro Boy with the Retail version is relatively easy, it does not require many parts that are only included in the EDU version, parts that can easily be found in other sets. I haven't built it all the way, but enough to play with it. So here is the result:

It is pretty stable, the iPhone does add some weight to it, but I have no batteries inside so this should compensate the extra weight. I haven't tried it with batteries and iPhone yet.

The app I used is called EV3nts https://itunes.apple...d944683176?mt=8 and here is a little demo of it:

You can find more details on how to use it here: http://redroundrobot.com/EV3nts.html

There is limitation in the WiFi transmission speed ( I could only get around 25-28ms fastest speed ), but it still works pretty good even like this, after some manual tweaking of the PID parameters.

Edited December 24, 2014 by RedRoundRobot

[DrJB]

The gyro sensor is only about $30 or so, at the lego.edu website. However, I like a lot what you have done, and this opens up a lot of possibilities. In principle one can harness a lot of the information already on the iPhone, and I'm sure many will follow suit ... one can only dream.

Edited December 24, 2014 by DrJB

[BusterHaus]

This is great, I always wondered if the gyro in a smart phone was sensitive enough to do the job. Any chance of seeing an Android app?

[darksheep]

This is cool !!!!!!!!! , i don't have a wi-fi module for my ev3 , would this work with bluetooth ?

[RedRoundRobot]

This only works with WiFi on iPhone. The Netgear WiFi adapter is around 17$, probably even less for a second hand one, I find it quite usefull so well worth the money :).

I started an Android app, I'll post here when it's done.