Sometimes, after watching robot videos or construction site competitions, I feel the urge to build my own robot. However, most people lack the professional skills and don't know where to begin. Today, I'll introduce the common types of motors used in intelligent robots in detail. These motors include three types: general DC motors, servo motors, and stepper motors.
1. A DC motor is a rotating motor that outputs or inputs DC power. It is a motor that can convert between DC electrical energy and mechanical energy. When it operates as a motor, it is a DC motor, converting electromagnetic energy into mechanical energy; when it operates as a generator, it is a DC generator, converting mechanical energy into electromagnetic energy.
2. Servo motors, also known as actuator motors, are used in fully automatic control technology as actuators to convert received signals into angular velocities or outputs on the motor shaft. They are divided into DC and AC servo motors. Their main characteristic is that they do not rotate when the signal current is zero, and their speed decreases uniformly as torque increases.
3. A stepper motor is an open-loop control device that converts pulse signals into angular velocity or linear movement. Under normal load conditions, the motor's speed is determined solely by the frequency and number of pulses, unaffected by load variations. In other words, applying a differential signal to the motor will cause it to rotate by one step angle. This linear relationship, coupled with the stepper motor's characteristic of exhibiting only regular deviations without cumulative deviations, contributes to its performance.
In industries involving speed and position control, stepper motors offer a very simple control method. Beginners are generally not very familiar with microcontroller-based motor control. They can start by using a microcontroller to design PWM signals to control DC motors, and then gradually try controlling stepper motors for higher linearity. For automotive motion control, DC motors or stepper motors are generally used, while servo motors are typically used in robotic arms to obtain accurate rotation angles and plan motion trajectories.
