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You're reading from  Raspberry Pi Robotics Essentials

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Published inJun 2015
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ISBN-139781785284847
Edition1st Edition
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Richard Grimmett
Richard Grimmett
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Richard Grimmett

Dr. Richard Grimmett has been fascinated by computers and electronics from his very first programming project, which used Fortran on punch cards. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering and a PhD in leadership studies. He also has 26 years of experience in the radar and telecommunications industries, and even has one of the original brick phones. He now teaches computer science and electrical engineering at Brigham Young University, Idaho, where his office is filled with his many robotics projects.
Read more about Richard Grimmett

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How servo motors work


Servo motors are somewhat similar to DC motors. However, there is an important difference. While DC motors are generally designed to move in a continuous way—rotating 360 degrees at a given speed—servos are generally designed to move to a limited set of angles. In other words, in the DC motor world, you generally want your motors to spin with a continuous rotation speed that you control. In the servo world, you want your motor to move to a specific position that you control.

This is done by sending a Pulse-Width-Modulated (PWM) signal to the control connector of the servo. The length of this pulse will control the angle of the servo like this:

These pulses are sent out with a repetition rate of 60 Hz. You can position the servo to any angle by setting the correct control pulse.

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Raspberry Pi Robotics Essentials
Published in: Jun 2015Publisher: ISBN-13: 9781785284847

Author (1)

author image
Richard Grimmett

Dr. Richard Grimmett has been fascinated by computers and electronics from his very first programming project, which used Fortran on punch cards. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering and a PhD in leadership studies. He also has 26 years of experience in the radar and telecommunications industries, and even has one of the original brick phones. He now teaches computer science and electrical engineering at Brigham Young University, Idaho, where his office is filled with his many robotics projects.
Read more about Richard Grimmett