OKI has announced the development of the ML8950 tri-axis accelerometer, a 5mm square by 1.4mm thick surface-mount chip that can measure acceleration, inclination angle, impact shocks, and vibration on the X, Y, and Z axis. The chip has built-in amplifiers and A/D converters, resulting in a serial digital output signal that can be connected directly to a CPU. The chip will be very low cost and is designed for use in cell phones and other mobile devices for applications such as camera-phone vibration compensation systems. Samples will be available begining in October. No data sheet on the device is available yet but some specifications can be found on the Japanese language press release. This sensor could lower the cost of robots that rely on an IMU for dynamic balancing.