It's a MiniMU-9, which combines a triple-axis gyro, a triple-axis accelerometer and a triple-axis magnetometer. In other words, it measures all the data you need to work out the position and orientation of a mobile robot. And it's tiny.
To give you a feeling of its size, the connector holes in the image are 0.1" apart, and it weighs just under a gram.
Now if only I had a small, low-cost lightweight, Linux-capable board to control it, I could build an autonomous blimp. But that's just Pi in the Sky :)
Seriously, the Raspberry Pi (described in the Register article linked to above) is well-suited to the job of managing an autonomous blimp. It's true that the gumstix is even smaller than the Pi, and available this month rather than next; but it costs a lot more.
Meanwhile I have projects stacked up that will keep me occupied for the foreseeable future. I have more work to do on my beta mbed project, and I need to post more Python I2C code for the Beagleboard. Meanwhile TrackBot is still waiting for a working radio link.
Christmas is going to be busy this year.
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