Vex Gyro Returns Random Values

Here is how I minimized the effects of electrical induced voltages and mechanical vibration on my Vex Gyroscope:

  1. The purpose of a relatively large mass is to provide a dampner to the normally vibrating robot platform. I mounted a 4-pound weight, already being used for robot ballast, on 2 rubber shock absorbers (made from 1" foam pipe insulation). I attached the weight on top of the 2 vertically-mounted 3"-high foam pipe-insulation cylinders with a hot-glue gun.

  2. On top of the metal weight (a flywheel from an old reel-to-reel tape player), I mounted two small vertical springs (1/4" diameter x 1" high) to further mechanically isolate the gyroscope circuit. Then I glued the Gyro to the springs.

  3. To isolate the Gyro from noise (vibrations) transmitted through the air, I cut pieces of 3/4"-thick Styrofoam and built a foam box around the gyro on top of the springs, leaving only a small slit in the top for the Gyro connection cable.

  4. I electrically isolated the Gyro circuit board by completely covering the foam box with the aluminum foil duct tape. I cut strips of foil tape and completely wrapped the 3-wire Gyro cable, to electrically isolate and shield it from any outside electrically-induced voltage (specially that produced by the PWM motor outputs from my Cortex controller).

After running for about 10 hours cumulative, I have not had any problems with this Gyro. It acts rock solid, always returning the same angle for the same degrees turn. I see no difference from angles measured with the robot motors off and turning the robot by hand, than those angles measured with the robot motors running.