Which hi tech toy uses a gyroscope

Optical gyroscopes are used in applications such as aircraft navigation systems, while MEMS gyroscopes are found in devices like smartphones. For the last few decades, researchers have wondered whether it would be possible to bridge the gap between these two technologies and create a new type of gyroscope that combines the precision of laser gyroscopes with the ease of manufacture of MEMS gyroscopes.

Now, Caltech scientists have developed an optical gyroscope that marries some of the best characteristics of each into one device. The new type of gyroscope has achieved something considered a benchmark for gyroscopes: the ability to measure the rotation of the earth.

That started to change about a decade ago because of dramatic progress in improving the performance of silicon-chip-based optical resonators and waveguides. Those developments are now starting to pay off. All optical gyroscopes, including the one developed by Vahala, make use of something known as the Sagnac effect to measure rotation. Two light waves traveling in opposite directions around a ring-like path will have equal propagation times.

However, when the path rotates, the time to reach a specific point on the rotating path will be different for each wave. This difference provides a measure of the rate of rotation and can be determined very precisely by measuring the interference between the two light waves. There are two versions of optical gyroscope. In a laser gyroscope, the ring-shaped path consists of a series of discrete mirrors off of which the light bounces.

Fiber optical gyroscopes, on the other hand, use a spool of fiber optic cable that can be hundreds or even thousands of meters long. That resiliency is, in fact, one of the key reasons for interest in chip-scale optical gyroscopes, as their ultimate physical size will likely be larger than MEMS devices. The new gyro has a unique design, with a single bearing located in the middle of the rotor disk instead of at the top and bottom of the spin shaft.

This reduces friction and contributes to longer idle spinning time. In-house tests show that the gyro can spin for more than four minutes on top of its tiny stand and that the rotor disc can spin for longer than fourteen minutes. The toy makes use of the gyro effect, which acts to maintain a constant axis of rotation even when an external force is applied.

Gyroscopes with ball bearings are widely used for navigation purposes in ships and planes. However, this is the first commercial gyroscope toy in Japan made with a ball bearing. The extraordinary precision and attention to detail makes the gyro stand out from the crowd.