Accelerometer

Problem: How does the robot know which way is up? How can it detect impact?

Installing the Library

The first thing we need is to install the library to allow us to read the accelerometer over I2C. If you have never installed a library, you can watch this video that shows you how. This time the library we're looking for is "MPU6050_tockn". which looks like this in the Library Manager:

Just search for "MPU6050" and scroll down until you see, "MPU6050_tockn". (Note there are plenty of other libraries that read this chip. You might want to try some of the others as well to see what each one offers.) Finally, click the Install button.

Wiring the Accelerometer

Example Code

#include <MPU6050_tockn.h>

#include <Wire.h>

MPU6050 mpu6050(Wire);

long timer = 0;

void setup() {

  Serial.begin(9600);

  Wire.begin();

  mpu6050.begin();

  mpu6050.calcGyroOffsets(true);

}

void loop() {

  mpu6050.update();

  if(millis() - timer > 1000){

    Serial.println("=======================================================");

    Serial.print("temp : ");Serial.println(mpu6050.getTemp());

    Serial.print("accX : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getAccX());

    Serial.print("\taccY : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getAccY());

    Serial.print("\taccZ : ");Serial.println(mpu6050.getAccZ());

    Serial.print("gyroX : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getGyroX());

    Serial.print("\tgyroY : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getGyroY());

    Serial.print("\tgyroZ : ");Serial.println(mpu6050.getGyroZ());

    Serial.print("accAngleX : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getAccAngleX());

    Serial.print("\taccAngleY : ");Serial.println(mpu6050.getAccAngleY());

    Serial.print("gyroAngleX : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getGyroAngleX());

    Serial.print("\tgyroAngleY : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getGyroAngleY());

    Serial.print("\tgyroAngleZ : ");Serial.println(mpu6050.getGyroAngleZ());

    Serial.print("angleX : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getAngleX());

    Serial.print("\tangleY : ");Serial.print(mpu6050.getAngleY());

    Serial.print("\tangleZ : ");Serial.println(mpu6050.getAngleZ());

    Serial.println("=======================================================\n");

    timer = millis();

  }

}