There are 6 degrees of freedom to any moving object - X,Y,Z position, and three axes of rotation. An accelerometer only gives you three numbers which are a mix of these dimensions. This means there are many possible movements which give the same readings on a 3-axis accelerometer. This is why the wii feels so imprecise and why you can play most games by just flicking your wrist.
The 3-axis gyroscopes give you the three axes of rotation (i.e. you know where the device is pointing). By combining this information with the accelerometers you have 6 independent measurements of motion and can work out exactly how the device is moving. That means the game knows the exact position and attitude of your device and can have nice responsive controls rather than the wooliness you see in accelerometer-based games.
This accelerometer-gyro combo is called an Inertial Measurement Unit:
HP has had plenty of time to fine-tune its finger-friendly TouchSmart software, and now, its newest model, the TouchSmart 610, ushers in a fresh design, highlighted by a hinge that allows the display to slide down and lie nearly flat.
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What does a gyroscope actually do???
@Protato
Measures displacement from equilibrium?
@Protato
There are 6 degrees of freedom to any moving object - X,Y,Z position, and three axes of rotation. An accelerometer only gives you three numbers which are a mix of these dimensions. This means there are many possible movements which give the same readings on a 3-axis accelerometer. This is why the wii feels so imprecise and why you can play most games by just flicking your wrist.
The 3-axis gyroscopes give you the three axes of rotation (i.e. you know where the device is pointing). By combining this information with the accelerometers you have 6 independent measurements of motion and can work out exactly how the device is moving. That means the game knows the exact position and attitude of your device and can have nice responsive controls rather than the wooliness you see in accelerometer-based games.
This accelerometer-gyro combo is called an Inertial Measurement Unit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_measurement_unit
Combined with GPS and the compass it is probably possible to work out your absolute position, leading to really accurate augmented reality stuff.
Conclusion: This is awesome, and I've been waiting for it for aaages. Now just need it on an Android phone.
@Protato
Tried to create a game like this just in WinMo with just an accelorometer but was too slow and too imprecise so I gave up :(
New smartphones to have gyroscopes now - please. Android and WP7 i'm looking at you.