To overcome the shortcomings of the conventional falling needle viscometer, many improvements have been made, e.g., adopting new design of needle structure, collector, and launcher. Furthermore, Hall magnetic sensors and single-board computer are used in the system, which makes the measurement automatic and intelligent. It is proved in the experiment that the instrument is accurate enough and has excellent performance. The technique can also be applied in falling ball viscometers. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.