PiStorms Pendulum
Our new set of data logging examples will help you quickly get your PiStorms collecting and displaying data. Here is an example using the AbsoluteIMU to plot the oscillation of a pendulum.
Here's a video of the experiment.
Pretty cool! Of course the primary attraction here is the AbsoluteIMU, but we also use an NXT Cable Extender to give the pendulum a greater swing. A pair of LEGO wheels add some mass to otherwise quite light AbsoluteIMU.
Remember, you can capture screenshots from the PiStorms Web Interface. Here is a gif of its recording while the video above was taken (gif speed adjusted to make it more interesting to watch).
You can find this program in the 30-DataVisualization folder. It is similar to previous examples, but introduces a great new strategy to collect data. The process of generating the graph image, saving it, and putting it on screen takes somewhere around a second. We want to record data as fast as possible though, so we use a separate thread for data collection. This way it is always collecting data at a high speed, and updating the screen as fast as it can. This is all explained in the comments in the program.
Furthermore, we save an image of the final graph and a copy of the data in a csv file, which you can download here.
There are certainly many way to improve this experiment, let us know what you try in the comments! For a slight twist, try mounting the AbsoluteIMU at the pivot, then measure the tilt instead of acceleration. You can find a description of this application (written before these easy data logging templates) here. Note the NXT motor is just used as a more-massive bob.
Keep an eye out for other PiStorms data logging projects. Have fun!
