Published March 20, 2016

Level Platform Using Accelerometer

Uses an accelerometer to level a platform.

BeginnerFull instructions provided1 hour41,155

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

Breadboard (generic)

Adafruit Accelerometer

Adafruit Pan/Tilt kit with Servos

Jumper wires (generic)

9V battery (generic)

Adafruit 9V battery clip

Foam board

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

Intro

I made a earlier project using the pan/tilt kit and the Wii Nunchuk and thought it might be fun to control the pan/tilt with the accelerometer but then came up with a better idea. Make a self leveling platform using the pan/tilt kit and an accelerometer. It's pretty basic and the code is very simple. There is lots of room for improvement but hopefully can be some inspiration for you.

Parts used (I get a lot of my parts from Adafruit but use anything you have)

Adafruit ADXL345-Accelerometer
Arduino Uno
Pan/Tilt Kit
Breadboard
9V Battery and battery clip
Foam board (for housing)

Step 1 - Acceleromter

Connect the accelerometer as follows:

VIN --> 5V on breadboard 5V rail
GND --> Ground on breadboard GND rail
SDA --> Analog A4 on Arduino
SCL --> Analog A5 on Arduino

Accelerator

Step 2 - Servo

Connect the servos as follows:

Servo 1

Brown Wire --> Ground on breadboard GND rail
Red Wire --> 5V on breadboard 5V rail
Brown Wire --> Pin 10 (Used Yellow Wire)

Servo 2

Brown Wire --> Ground on breadboard GND rail
Red Wire --> 5V on breadboard 5V rail
Brown Wire --> Pin 10 (Used Blue Wire)

Servos

Step 3 - Build Housing and Mount Parts

I used foam board to make a housing to hold the servos, accelerometer and Arduino.

Housing

Mounted Pan/Tilt Kit w/servos

Step 4 - Code

The code has a few variables that can be adjusted.

xOffset - Used to level out the platform on the x-axis
yOffset - Used to level out the platform on the y-axis
sensitivity - Used to decrease the sensitivity of the accelerometer

There are two libraries needed:

Adafruit_ADXL345_U.h
Servo.h (builtin to the Arduino IDE)

The code is pretty well commented but if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will answer as best I can.

See it in Action!

Lights, camera, action!

Final Thoughts

Other ideas:

Use the accelerometer to aim a laser attached to the pan/tilt
Use accelerometer in a robot
User stepper motors for better resolution

As always, feel free to comment and hope this is entertaining and useful. Thanks for looking!

Code

Accelerometer

/*
 * Accelerator demo
 * 
 */
#include <Servo.h>
#include <Adafruit_ADXL345_U.h>

// Create servo objects for x and y servos
Servo xServo;
Servo yServo;

// Used to level the platform, if needed
int xOffset = -7;
int yOffset = -1;

// Used to decrease sensitivity
int sensitivity = 50;

// Assign a unique ID to this sensor at the same time
Adafruit_ADXL345_Unified accel = Adafruit_ADXL345_Unified(12345);


void setup() {
      Serial.begin(9600);
  
// Initialize sensor
      if(!accel.begin())
      {
// Sensor not detected
            Serial.println("No Sensor detected");
      while(1);

      }

// Connect servos to pins
      xServo.attach(9);
      yServo.attach(10);

// Setup sensor Range and datarate
      accel.setRange(ADXL345_RANGE_16_G);
      accel.setDataRate(ADXL345_DATARATE_25_HZ);

}

void loop() {
 
      sensors_event_t event; 
      accel.getEvent(&event);

// Get x and y values from sensor
      int x = event.acceleration.x;
      int y = event.acceleration.y;

// map sensor value (-10 - 10) to servo position value (30 - 150)
      int x1 = map(x, -10, 10, 130, 50);
      int y1 = map(y, -10, 10, 50, 130);

// Troubleshoot info - show sensor reading and mapping
      Serial.print("X: "); Serial.print(x);
      Serial.print("\tY: "); Serial.print(y);
      Serial.print("\tX1: "); Serial.print(x1);
      Serial.print("\tY1: "); Serial.println(y1);

// move servos based on sensor mapping
      xServo.write(x1 + xOffset);
      yServo.write(y1 + yOffset);
      delay(sensitivity);         //delay to decrease sensitivity
}

Credits

Mark Tashiro

5 projects • 64 followers

Love gadgets. Passion for figuring out how things work.

Level Platform Using Accelerometer

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Intro

Step 1 - Acceleromter

Step 2 - Servo

Step 3 - Build Housing and Mount Parts

Step 4 - Code

See it in Action!

Final Thoughts

Schematics

Schematic

Code

Accelerometer

Credits

Mark Tashiro

Comments

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Level Platform Using Accelerometer

Level Platform Using Accelerometer

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Intro

Step 1 - Acceleromter

Step 2 - Servo

Step 3 - Build Housing and Mount Parts

Step 4 - Code

See it in Action!

Final Thoughts

Schematics

Schematic

Code

Accelerometer

Credits

Mark Tashiro

Comments

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