Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: optic gyroscopes: do they exist?
Message-ID: <nagleCupu7H.KJG@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <32r9od$4t7@deadmin.ucsd.edu> <32tebh$k6j@nntp2.Stanford.EDU>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 1994 05:35:41 GMT
Lines: 24

hdsteven@sun-valley.Stanford.EDU (H. D. Stevens) writes:
>In article <32r9od$4t7@deadmin.ucsd.edu>, impellus@cs.ucsd.edu (Tom Impelluso) writes:
>|> I am trying to find out if small optic
>|> gyroscopes (that can be attached to robot
>|> extremities) do exist.   I have heard that
>|> Mitsubishi makes them.  I would like to
>|> know if they are manufactured by a firm
>|> here in the U.S. 

      What are you trying to do?
   
      Vibrating-beam miniature rate gyros are available from various
sources.  If you need a US supplier, try Systron-Donner Inertial
Division, 510-671-6601.  Ask for info on the GyroChip line.
MuRata (310-436-8700) makes a comparable line, which they call the
GyroStar.  Prices are in the $300-$1000 range.  Drift rates are in the
1 degree/sec range.

      Precision heading gyros are much more expensive, and much bigger.
Fibre-optic gyros are getting cheaper, but they're no panacea.  The
phase shift distance that has to be measured in a fibre-optic gyro
is smaller than an atomic diameter.  So thermal control is a big issue.

					John Nagle
