"simple" head controlled pan tilt idea
06-11-2006, 03:09 PM
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"simple" head controlled pan tilt idea
There have been a number of pan tilt head trackers, most require a lot of electronics knowledge, which I lack. I came up with a mechanical idea a while back but have been too busy to implement it, so here it is, incase someone else wants to try:
The basic idea is that if you had a stick fastened on one end to a snug bike helmet, and on the other end to your back, just below the shoulderblades, head pan could be measured as twisting of this stick. Head tilt could be measured as a change in the length of the stick.
If the helmet end of the stick was attached to a pot out of a buddy box, the pot being fastened to the helmet, with the knob facing down.
The tilt pot could be mounted on the back, with the shaft of the pot held horizontal, and running along the back, not poking into or out of the back. The an arm is attached to the pot shaft, with the arm poking away from the back, and the arm is atached with a clevis to the stick, so that the stick can rotate the pot as the head tips, but the stick cannot rotate relitive to the back, and instead rotates the head pot.
This arangment could be atached to a nylon strip in a jacket, and the rod could be held together with magnets, so that it could be taken off /put on relitivly easily.
As long as the pan pot was resonably tough, it chould be mounted anywhere along the stick, putting it closer to the back would simplify wires, and the head end of the stick could plug into a keyed universal joint attached to the helmet and held there with a magnet.
I suspect that the resulting outputs wouldn't exactly match the head motions, but would be a whole lot easier to learn than running a stick on the radio. I think there will be some unwanted tilt as the head twists, but that could be programmed out with a computer radio.
When i get a chance, I will try laying things out in cad.
Ken
The basic idea is that if you had a stick fastened on one end to a snug bike helmet, and on the other end to your back, just below the shoulderblades, head pan could be measured as twisting of this stick. Head tilt could be measured as a change in the length of the stick.
If the helmet end of the stick was attached to a pot out of a buddy box, the pot being fastened to the helmet, with the knob facing down.
The tilt pot could be mounted on the back, with the shaft of the pot held horizontal, and running along the back, not poking into or out of the back. The an arm is attached to the pot shaft, with the arm poking away from the back, and the arm is atached with a clevis to the stick, so that the stick can rotate the pot as the head tips, but the stick cannot rotate relitive to the back, and instead rotates the head pot.
This arangment could be atached to a nylon strip in a jacket, and the rod could be held together with magnets, so that it could be taken off /put on relitivly easily.
As long as the pan pot was resonably tough, it chould be mounted anywhere along the stick, putting it closer to the back would simplify wires, and the head end of the stick could plug into a keyed universal joint attached to the helmet and held there with a magnet.
I suspect that the resulting outputs wouldn't exactly match the head motions, but would be a whole lot easier to learn than running a stick on the radio. I think there will be some unwanted tilt as the head twists, but that could be programmed out with a computer radio.
When i get a chance, I will try laying things out in cad.
Ken
