Motorcycle Gyromount Always Delivers Perfect Video

If you’ve ever watched MotoGP (motorcycle) racing, you might have wondered how the camera appears to stay level even while the bike turns left and right, nearly becoming horizontal. Saftari was curious about this himself and, rather than simply answering the question, he built a gyroscopic camera rig that allows the camera to remain upright when his “hog” takes a turn. Granted, he is using it on what Americans would generally call a “moped,” but the principle is the same.

The build, which is well-documented in the link above, uses an Arduino Uno with an accelerometer and gyroscope chip to tell the board which way is “up.” Depending on this answer, the attached servo attempts to adjusts the camera so that the picture is always level with the ground.

The mechanical housing for this build is simple, yet well-executed. A project box holds the Arduino Uno with the servo attached to the top. The camera is then held by a red piece of acrylic which has been bent to shape and drilled to accommodate the small camera and servo.

The resulting fixture can be seen in the first video and onboard footage is seen in the second. It is effective, although the video can be somewhat shaky. I would think that this is, at least in part, a result of the video being stabilized in only one axis.