DIY Head Tracker For A Tenner

[QuozL]

Just a post to say a HUGE thanks for my prebuilt 9150 & cable supplied EDTracker, it is absolutely brilliant.

The unit shipped two days after ordering so I must have got lucky as initial email response to the order mentioned the 2-3 week wait time, but the longest wait was for Australia post as is per the norm. Only suggestion here is for OS shipping to perhaps use a small box for packing as the envelope used had very little protection and I'm amazed Australia post didn't destroy the unit before it got here.

Anyway I followed the install video via Youtube with the guide open as well and it all works perfectly.

I'm sure I saw in one of the videos you mention after all the initial install and flashing when you then start the unit each time to keep the unit upright when plugging it in for 20 secs to let the gyro stabilise but for the life of me I can't find it again but for anyone else having jittering issues remembering that piece of info will be a life saver. After my initial install, flashing & setup it was working perfectly but I rebooted the PC for whatever reason with the headset laying on it's side with the 9150 strapped to the top and I thought something had gone wrong with the unit as it was all jittery and unusable but as soon as I unplugged it then replugged the 9150 in with the headset upright and kept it still for 20 secs the unit worked flawlessly again and hasn't missed a beat since.

Huge thanks and Kudos' to those involved with the project for the excellent piece of kit and also to SubSynK from Time of Chaos for recommending the unit to me through his excellent Twitch Stream

Cheers Q

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Any thoughts on this? Tracker works perfectly for hours on end but if I pop my head set off and place them on the desk when I return the gyro has gone completely nuts and wont settle. This the manifests itself as a shaking head in gui and in game and can only be solved by calibrating the gyro again. It didnt do this at all on the previos gui build / flash and has only started to do it since GUI 4.0.4.0 + Magnetometer MPU-9150 4.0.3 firmware.

Just a bit more info

Thats from boot with it not being moved at all, look at that yaw jitter :S

 

[brumster]

Hmmm, obviously if it's not moving then there's something wrong there as the sensor believes it's moving. Remind me, does it do this on other non-mag firmwares too (2.20.7)? Just wondering if it's a hardware issue rather than software, which is maybe more likely (if it was a software issue loads of people would be reporting this)... wondering if some power fluctuations or interference are causing it. But clutching at straws a bit to be honest! Also doesn't explain why a gyro re-calibration would then get rid of it...

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Its just weird and only started since flashing it and only after being left off my head. Prior to this it had the 4.0.2 firmware on it and it didnt do this once, I only calibrated the giro once when I got it and then never again. I would put the 4.0.2 back on but its not listed anywhere in the gui

I havent tried a non mag FW

What I have done just now though is to reset it to defaults and recalibrate everything again from scratch to see if its just a gremlin. A gyro recalibration is the only thing that will sort it though, resetting the view centres it but it still jitters about.

 

[Cedhric]

New firmware and GIU have made quite a difference to my experience with the 9150. Much more stable ans smooth in game. Once again, many thanks for all your work on this.

 

[brumster]

Its just weird and only started since flashing it and only after being left off my head. Prior to this it had the 4.0.2 firmware on it and it didnt do this once, I only calibrated the giro once when I got it and then never again. I would put the 4.0.2 back on but its not listed anywhere in the gui

You'll need to revert back to 4.0.1 GUI if you want to go back on the firmware - the orientation/mag stuff changed and isn't backwardly compatible so Rob purposely hides the old firmwares on the new GUI to avoid confusion from the incompatibility. It's still on the website to download if you want to go back

 

[Vincent Starson]

I received my headtracker today but after following instructions it keeps auto-centering the head. I can look up or down fine but looking left or right bumps it back to center as soon as you finish moving. There's a toggle auto-center button but it's grayed out.

I looked up the FAQ, searched this thread, and tried recalibrating a number of times. What am I doing wrong?

Edit: okay I figured it out, I had to set the correct Program under the gui. Don't mind me...

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

You'll need to revert back to 4.0.1 GUI if you want to go back on the firmware - the orientation/mag stuff changed and isn't backwardly compatible so Rob purposely hides the old firmwares on the new GUI to avoid confusion from the incompatibility. It's still on the website to download if you want to go back

I'll keep an eye on it but its not done it today since I reset to defaults and reconfigured it all. The other thing which i'm not sure could be related but where its been laid the last few days was right next to one of our portable landline phones which has been on my desk away from its station since Friday (also the day it started). Maybe its just coincidence but that phones not usually there.

 

[scarecrow22]

I'm getting that yaw jitter too. Latest FW and everything. Only happens when I plug it in with it strapped to my headset on my head. It seems to be movement during startup calibration that screws up the yaw.

 

[Antmax]

Mine used to have it periodically after being put down at an angle for long periods. Nothing that a click on the auto gyro button with the headset aligned properly doesn't fix.

To fix it I simply made a headset hangar out of a book end. So the headset is close to upright instead of lying down when not in use. Haven't had it happen once since the last patch.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Mine used to have it periodically after being put down at an angle for long periods. Nothing that a click on the auto gyro button with the headset aligned properly doesn't fix.

To fix it I simply made a headset hangar out of a book end. So the headset is close to upright instead of lying down when not in use. Haven't had it happen once since the last patch.

That's interesting to hear, mine were on their side as well.

 

[scarecrow22]

Mine sits vertically on a stand that comes out the side of my monitor when not in use. So its the correct way up but 90 degrees off yaw wise.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Mine is never unplugged but is often just laid on the desk to my left whilst the pc boots (no moving). Like I say it hadn't done this for 2 weeks and started after flashing it on Friday, but similarly It makes me wonder what impact having the house portable phone had, laid next to it.

 

[brumster]

I would think once moved away from the phone and any magnetic disturbance it should return back to normality. The simplest and best advice I can provide is - calibrate it in as close a position as you would be wearing it. So, fix it to your headset, then calibrate it by spinning the whole caboodle in place where you sit when playing. And if you have one of these dangling from your ceiling, turn it off first...

 

[reboot]

Magnetometer calibration is necessary to remove drift in “YAW”!

Yes I understand that, but then why are we calibrating in every conceivable “angel”, “direction”,”axis” ???????

 

[pocketmoon]

I'm getting that yaw jitter too. Latest FW and everything. Only happens when I plug it in with it strapped to my headset on my head. It seems to be movement during startup calibration that screws up the yaw.

All the 9150 sketched perform a startup calibration when plugged in. So,yep, any movement during that first 20 seconds or so and you will have to click 'auto gyro bias' to redo it.

 

[pocketmoon]

Magnetometer calibration is necessary to remove drift in “YAW”!

Yes I understand that, but then why are we calibrating in every conceivable “angel”, “direction”,”axis” ???????

The magnetometer has three orthogonal sensors and all three contribute to the heading calculation. If you're looking up then it's a different pair of sensors that are effectively being used than if you're looking level. So all three sensors need calibrating and ideally swept through their full range.

You can get away with a subset of motion, a figures of 8 can give good results, but the mag calibration algorithm we use works by fitting the uncalibrated data-set to a sphere so pointing in 6 directions and twirling gives the best possible data set to work with.

Rob

 

[Nonya]

Have not read through this entire thread, but awesome use of Arduino microcontrollers here.
I used to build small Arduino-based sensors ovreseas for a while.
Anyhoo, any thoughts to making this "wireless" via the use of an Xbee module or other one-way wireless and a small battery back?
Curious how much it would last on a battery. Should be possible to dremel out some space in the battery compartment of a wireless headset such as the Logitech 930 and mount a bigger battery and/or squeeze in the sensor in it.

 

[pocketmoon]

If the tracker is left laying down for any length of time it will loose it's drift compensation. You just need to rest the headphone upright, level and stationary and do a 'auto gyro bias'. Mag calibration should be fine, even if you stick it next to a phone, speakers etc, and you shouldn't need to redo mag-cal unless the envirnment changes (e.g. you move some speakers or change headphones).

At the moment drift compensation is done assuming the headphones are upright. I hope to add three-axis compensation so things stay stable even when the headphones are placed down but it's super-tight for space on the Pro Micro and easily sorted by the 20 second auto gyro calibration.

Or stick a pencil in your desk draw and hang your headphones on that

Rob

 

[pocketmoon]

I'm sure I saw in one of the videos you mention after all the initial install and flashing when you then start the unit each time to keep the unit upright when plugging it in for 20 secs to let the gyro stabilise but for the life of me I can't find it again but for anyone else having jittering issues remembering that piece of info will be a life saver.
Cheers Q

Well it's in the user guide

http://edtracker.org.uk/index.php/downloads/category/3-documentation


But we probably need to stick a prominent link to that doc on the front page of the website. It is a bit burried.

Glad it survived to Oz! Will take on board the envelope vs box suggestion.

Rob