page_title: Gimbal lock
hierarchical_section_title: Gimbal lock
caption_attribution_description: English: A set of three gimbals mounted together to allow three degrees of freedom. http://weelookang.blogspot.com/2011/07/ejs-open-source-gimbal-lock-model-java.html
context_page_description: Gimbal lock is the loss of one degree of freedom in a three-dimensional, three-gimbal mechanism that occurs when the axes of two of the three gimbals are driven into a parallel configuration, "locking" the system into rotation in a degenerate two-dimensional space.
  The word lock is misleading: no gimbal is restrained. All three gimbals can still rotate freely about their respective axes of suspension. Nevertheless, because of the parallel orientation of two of the gimbals' axes there is no gimbal available to accommodate rotation about one axis.
context_section_description: Gimbal lock is the loss of one degree of freedom in a three-dimensional, three-gimbal mechanism that occurs when the axes of two of the three gimbals are driven into a parallel configuration, "locking" the system into rotation in a degenerate two-dimensional space.
  The word lock is misleading: no gimbal is restrained. All three gimbals can still rotate freely about their respective axes of suspension. Nevertheless, because of the parallel orientation of two of the gimbals' axes there is no gimbal available to accommodate rotation about one axis.
caption: Gimbal with 3 axes of rotation. A set of three gimbals mounted together to allow three degrees of freedom: roll, pitch and yaw. When two gimbals rotate around the same axis, the system loses one degree of freedom.