Its kinda true. In 2003 gyros were a bit larger, they were just starting to come out for R/C helicopters. And while an Arduino is a great chip its equivalent in something like a 68HC11 or other more "general purpose" microprocessor was larger in both surface area and design footprint (usually a separate eprom + CPU vs built in) the the performance was equivalent.
The real killer has been rapid update rate inertial measurement units (IMUs) which refresh rapidly enough to make interesting feedback loops practical. Small and fast IMUs have arisen out of the the development of MEMS (or Micro Electro Mechanical Systems). Integrating the accelerometer and signal conditioning is the thing that really kicked things off. Putting them into phones got the volumes to the point where they are very inexpensive.
If so, that expense and size was coming from the 3 axis gyro. 10 years ago you could get a (massively overpriced) z80 graphic calculator with several times that much flash for around $100. (The size of a small ham sandwich, yes, but that they were calculators.)
Comments
10 years ago a micro with 256k of onboard flash and a 3 axis gyro was the size of ham sandwich and cost as much as your car
genuine newbie question: is it true? 10 years ago they wire still so big and expensive?
Its kinda true. In 2003 gyros were a bit larger, they were just starting to come out for R/C helicopters. And while an Arduino is a great chip its equivalent in something like a 68HC11 or other more "general purpose" microprocessor was larger in both surface area and design footprint (usually a separate eprom + CPU vs built in) the the performance was equivalent.
The real killer has been rapid update rate inertial measurement units (IMUs) which refresh rapidly enough to make interesting feedback loops practical. Small and fast IMUs have arisen out of the the development of MEMS (or Micro Electro Mechanical Systems). Integrating the accelerometer and signal conditioning is the thing that really kicked things off. Putting them into phones got the volumes to the point where they are very inexpensive.
If so, that expense and size was coming from the 3 axis gyro. 10 years ago you could get a (massively overpriced) z80 graphic calculator with several times that much flash for around $100. (The size of a small ham sandwich, yes, but that they were calculators.)
MEMS accelerometers are a fairly recent invention