3D printed gyroscopes: Design, fabrication, and future prospects of spinning mass systems
Pratham GUPTA, Dattatreya MAHAPATRA, Abhishek SINGH, Aman IMTIYAZ, Yogesh SHRIVASTAVA
Abstract. Gyroscopes are valuable devices that are used in the calculation of angular and orientation speed in any kind of mechanical machine. In this paper, spinning mass mechanical gyroscopes will be discussed and how they can be additively printed. The article highlights the new technology, 3D printing, in the manufacturing of a gyroscope with increased customization, weight reduction and low-cost features. Various types of gyroscopes are provided, including mechanical, optical, MEMS and quantum gyroscopes to provide a larger picture of technology. The design, selection of the material (PLA PRO+ in particular) and fabrication and calibration are also presented in the paper. The findings suggest additive manufacturing can be rather beneficial in the context of the production of complex geometries and lightweight structures without disrupting the functionality. In the future, hopefully, it will be integrated with more advanced sensor and control systems that will allow it to be precise and expand its field of use.
Keywords
Gyroscope, Additive Manufacturing, Spinning Mass, Mechanical Systems, 3D Printing
Published online 8/15/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Pratham GUPTA, Dattatreya MAHAPATRA, Abhishek SINGH, Aman IMTIYAZ, Yogesh SHRIVASTAVA, 3D printed gyroscopes: Design, fabrication, and future prospects of spinning mass systems, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 71, pp 234-241, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/97816449042312-32
The article was published as article 32 of the book AI-Driven Innovations in Mechanical, Manufacturing, and Energy Engineering
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] P. Cordsiro, “The gyroscope,” Popular Astronomy, vol. 15, pp. 81-95, 1907.
[2] V. Apostolyuk, Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscopes: Theory and Design. Springer, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22198-4
[3] G. Greenhill, “Report on gyroscopic theory,” 2010.
[4] B. Friedland and M. Hutton, “Theory and error analysis of vibrating-member gyroscope,” IEEE Trans. Autom. Control, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 545-556, 1978. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.1978.1101785
[5] R. Bergh, H. Lefevre, and H. Shaw, “An overview of fiber-optic gyroscopes,” J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 91-107, 1984. https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.1984.1073580
[6] P. H. Savet, Gyroscopes: Theory and Design with Applications to Instrumentation, Guidance, and Control. McGraw-Hill, 1961.
[7] J. M. O’Connor and D. M. Shupe, “Vibrating beam rotation sensor,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 75, no. 2, p. 652, 1984. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.390541
[8] J. Nayak, “Fiber-optic gyroscopes: From design to production,” Appl. Opt., vol. 50, no. 25, pp. E152-E161, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.50.00E152
[9] R. Usubamatov, “Mathematical models for principles of gyroscope theory,” in AIP Conf. Proc., 2017. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972725
[10] M. N. Armenise et al., Advances in Gyroscope Technologies. Springer, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15494-2
[11] K. Hotate, “Future evolution of fiber optic gyros,” Opt. Rev., vol. 4, no. 1A, pp. 28-34, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02935985
[12] J. B. Scarborough, The Gyroscope. Interscience Publishers, 1958.
[13] R. Usubamatov, “Inertial forces acting on a gyroscope,” J. Mech. Sci. Technol., vol. 32, pp. 101-108, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-1211-0
[14] B. Culshaw and I. Giles, “Fibre optic gyroscopes,” J. Phys. E: Sci. Instrum., vol. 16, no. 1, p. 5, 1983. https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3735/16/1/001
[15] Y. Li et al., “On-site scale factor linearity calibration of MEMS triaxial gyroscopes,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.03393, 2024.
[16] L. Ojeda, H. Chung, and J. Borenstein, “Precision calibration of fiber-optics gyroscopes for mobile robot navigation,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Autom., 2000.
[17] S. Qin, Z. Huang, and X. Wang, “Optical angular encoder installation error measurement and calibration by ring laser gyroscope,” IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 506-511, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2009.2022104
[18] S. Stančin and S. Tomažič, “Time- and computation-efficient calibration of MEMS 3D accelerometers and gyroscopes,” Sensors, vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 14885-14915, 2014. https://doi.org/10.3390/s140814885
[19] G. Casinovi et al., “Electrostatic self-calibration of vibratory gyroscopes,” in Proc. IEEE MEMS, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1109/MEMSYS.2012.6170237
[20] V. Bagaria, R. Bhansali, and P. Pawar, “3D printing: Creating a blueprint for the future of orthopedics,” J. Clin. Orthop. Trauma, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 207-212, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcot.2018.07.007
[21] A. Chadha et al., “Effect of fused deposition modelling process parameters on mechanical properties of 3D printed parts,” World J. Eng., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 550-559, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJE-09-2018-0329
