It consisted gyroscopes which used to measure the rotation speed of the airplane.

Then, in 1909, the first auto-pilot was created by an American inventor Elmer A. Sperry. It was invented to be used in a submersible. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the first workable gyrocompass was developed by German inventor H. Anschütz-Kaempfe in 1908. Since then gyroscopes were widely used in autonomous navigation systems. This unique merit made gyroscopes are the perfect sensors to detect and measure the angular velocity of a rotational object, the deviation of a vehicle from its desired orientation. He named his experimental instrument for Earth’s rotation observation by joining two Greek roots: gyros meaning “circle or rotation” and skopeein meaning “to see.” During his experiment to demonstrate the Earth’s rotation, he found gyroscopes could maintain their original orientations in space regardless of Earth’s rotation. Gyroscope was created by a French physicist, Jean-Bernard-Léon Foucault. But the name “gyroscope” did not appear until in the middle of 19th century. Bamboo dragonfly is an early type of gyroscope owning a history longer than 2500 years. Children had great fun experimenting to see whose bamboo dragonflies would fly the farthest and the highest. When they rubbed this toy between their hands, it went flying into the air. In ancient China, dating back to 500 BC, an interesting toy called “bamboo dragonfly” was invented to emulate the dragonfly.

Human gyroscope