Hardware

Gimbal

A gimbal is a pivoted mechanism that permits rotation of a mounted payload about one or more axes, most commonly a motorized two- or three-axis stabilizer that isolates a camera or sensor from the motion of its carrying vehicle using IMU feedback and brushless direct-drive motors. Gimbals stabilize aerial and ground robot cameras, point antennas and sensors, and appear in classical attitude instruments, where the alignment singularity known as gimbal lock originates.

Why it matters for physical AI

Stable, actively pointed sensing decouples perception quality from platform motion, improving video for teleoperation and visual policies on drones and rough-terrain robots, while gimbal lock remains the canonical caution about rotation parameterizations.