Gyroscope
What is a Gyroscope
Gyroscopes, or gyros, are devices that measure or maintain rotational motion. MEMS (microelectromechanical system) gyros are small, inexpensive sensors that measure angular velocity. The units of angular velocity are measured in degrees per second (°/s) or revolutions per second (RPS). Angular velocity is simply a measurement of speed of rotation.
Gyros, similar to the one above, can be used to determine orientation and are found in most autonomous navigation systems. For example, if you want to balance a robot, a gyroscope can be used to measure rotation from the balanced position and send corrections to a motor. Check out a few of the ones from the SparkFun catalog.
Concepts in this tutorial
Before diving into this tutorial, you may want to read up on some of these concepts if you are unfamiliar with them.