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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

TRIBAL (TRIpod meets gimBAL)

Hi Patrick.

Good question - there are a number of motor technologies out there.

Brushless DC Motors

+) Produce electro magnetic fields
+) Often make noise
+) Needs energy to maintain their position
+) Can move incredibly quickly (high velocity)
+) Take time to start moving (medium acceleration)
+) Sometimes judder trying to point in an exact direction (low angular resolution)
+) Highly established technology

Piezo Electric Linear motor

+) No magnetic fields
+) No energy required to maintain current position
+) Low velocity
+) High torque
+) High acceleration
+) Does not oscillate around direction (high angular resolution)
+) Less widely used technology.

I should add that I am not an expert on the hardware side and so am always happy to be pointed in the right direction :-)

AJ
 
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Ongoing research

Whilst not directly relevant for off-the shelf use for Gimbal design today:

There is a relatively recent move to use very strong and incredibly light '2 dimensional' materials that exhibit piezo electric properties to make motors that could have use as our abilities to create 2d materials improves.

"Two-dimensional piezoelectric material forms basis of world's thinnest electric generator"

http://www.physnews.com/nano-physics-news/cluster1041821667/

Graphene News

Creating of other 2D materials like Graphene got a recent boost ... someone has worked out a process to make rolls of it!

https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/manufacture-continuous-rolls-graphene-0521

AJ
 
TRIBAL-X

After contemplating a number of POWERED designs that hook-up to the Tribal Spirit that fully connect the operator to the floor through through lower body exoskeletons, I returned to simpler UNPOWERED designs that transferred the majority of weight to your hips.

Tribal%252520X.png


AJ
 
I see a very interesing use of your system where gimbals doesn't work : in the Z axis like in cars/plane/boat or moving platforms with micro vertical vibrations (up to 5cm).
Gimbals usually work well while carried as it's impossible to generate thoses micro vibration when a human is carriing it. The body has a smoothing out effect.

Pat
 
I have sent a mini pitch to the Microsoft HoloLens team.

With the specs gleaned from the Ars Technia team who tested the second generation HoloLens - it could easily wirlessly control the RED via the SDK .

AJ
 
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Hi Mark,

The ability to point with very great precision is a common use of a Piezo actuated platform.

Many of the existing 'off the shelf' platforms are designed to move 20kg - 250kg with nanometer absolute precision.
To ensure they don't flex - these are often use very think gauge top platform, base and struts.

Our use case is more like micrometer precision & lighter payload. This should mean considerably less beefy actuators / and the ability to move with greater speed.


AJ
 
Got a response from the Microsoft HoloLens team.

+) At this stage they are only going to share the technical specifications and APIs (interface commands) of the Hololens with their chosen partners.
+) They are however very keen for developers to download the beta version of the development environment (ie Windows 10) to become aquatinted with it.

Interface thoughts

+) Motion tracking your head (with a 'joystick button' depressed) would be suitable to control the direction the camera head moves.
Or more generally: A button_gesture used in conjunction with input from the position, velocity and acceleration of your head could be used to transform the direction of the camera.

+) Focussing : I am pretty sure the Hololens includes real time environmental mapping. If the position of the camera is known in this real-time-mapped scene, then the relative distance the objects the Hololens can 'see' could also be determined. The big question for me was if MS have bestowed the Hololens with Eye tracking. If the camera image is displayed in the Hololens, the operator could look at the item to focus on, and in the simplest form use a gesture to switch (or rack) focus to that point. In a more functionally rich system, a secondary operator could take 'ownership' of some of the control - and/or augment the HUD used by the primary operator (eg to ensure that tracking of exact points is perfectly tagged and displayed on the HUD for the primary operator to gesture focus change to).

AJ
 
Pat,

The concepts were not intended to strike fear into people - just to provoke thought on what the ideal solution for operating and controlling a movie camera.

Here's another piece that I worked on ...

Nest%2525202.jpg


... designed to excite phonons between 5Hz and 35kHz with great affect. :-)

AJ
 
Hi Mark,

Visor Control

Earlier this week I suggested an API extension to the RED SDK team that could form the basis of the Visor GUI design.

This (hopefully simple) addition has implications to the way the entire RED community would be able to remotely control their cameras.

I note that : If done 'right', Visor control would enable effective wireless control of a RED on any gimbal.
Developing this component first could therefore pay dividends to the RED community sooner.

Gimbal Designs

My gut feeling is that Visor + Eyetracking (whenever this is released) + Gesture control represents a revolution in the Human-Computer-Interface. This is what I envisage will be in general use in 10-15 years time.

The Tribal Spirit / X and Tribal Sphere designs represent an evolution of design based on existing challenges that I have understood and attempted to address. On that path I have been 'steered' back to practical technologies due to high R&D lead times and likely prohibitive costs of exotic solutions.

I do however have a further gimbal design that is revolutionary; I am currently in a quandary if I should be 'shooting for something that could bring its general adoption forward in time (but would consume a good slice of my time), or lay the foundation for others (or perhaps other companies) to follow.

AJ
 
Thanks JJ,

A scaled down version of that platform would be 'swell.

I found that Lockheed Martin create considerably lower weight piezo actuators (for mobile use)

And tha PI are used by Zeiss for custom piezo electric motors.

A technologist has challenged me to design a low weight mobile actuation system (I was actually hoping he was going to do one for me)!

AJ
 
Hololens : 'looks-like eye tracking is in!

http://lumiaconversations.microsoft...oser-look-at-the-microsoft-hololens-hardware/


"We invented a third processor: A Holographic Processing Unit (HPU). The HPU gives HoloLens the real-time ability to understand where you’re looking, to understand your gestures, and to spatially map the world around you. Conceived, designed, and engineered by Microsoft, the HPU is designed specifically to support the needs of HoloLens."

AJ
 
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