Talk:Gimbal

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[edit] Expansion Request

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)

I've requested that this article be expanded because it is overly focused on gyro-gimbal systems and their aerospace applications. Gimbals are extensively used for other purposes, and some discussion of those is totally appropriate and neccesary (an illustration would help too). I'd do it myself, but I'm pretty busy right now. -Lommer | ^talk 23:57, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

I would like to see more on the gimbal lock problem. are there designs where this is not an issue? how bad is it? (it sounds very bad)

Not a problem aboard ship, it is a disaster on a space launch vehicle. It is avoided by use of a fourth gimbal. In one system, the fourth gimbal is used to maintain the outer and middle gimbals at right angles, deriving a drive signal from the angle between them. While this prevents gimbal lock, there is yet a problem called "gimbal flip". This occurs when the fourth gimbal reaches an indecision point -- should it drive clockwise or counterclockwise to maintain the outer and middle gimbals at right angles. This in turn is remedied by reversing the fourth gimbal drive when the indecision point is neared. Gimballed systems are obsolete, replaced by systems using strapdown (body mounted) sensors and computing orientation, and velocity digitally.

The article on Quaternions does little to explain their application to Inertial navigation and their relationship to direction cosines. Also missing is any mention of Euler's rotation theorem. 70.118.127.94 21:16, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What is AS-XII

Exactly what is AS-XII? Is it supposed to be Apollo 13? The only references I can find to AS-XII are websites that are basically mirrors of Wikipedia. Jachim 04:39, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HIstory of Gimbals

Gimbals are known from Tang times (http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/china/xian/fa13.html) or earlier, when they were used in Buddhist incense burners. Need a good historian of technology to expand this article. Gunth1u 02:57, 6 June 2007 (UTC)