Motors

Motors provide a way for our devices to interact with us and the environment. They can provide haptic feedback for notification, add movement to your robot, help 3D print a model, or CNC mill a material. Some basic motors types include DC brush, servos, brushless, stepper, linear motors. Not sure what motor to select? Check out Motors and Selecting the Right One and the hobby servo tutorial for more information to start.

Actobotics Basic Differential Platform

December 22, 2014

Get started with Actobotics with this simple vehicle. Then expand and customize it for your own evil robot empire.

Advanced Autonomous Kit for Sphero RVR Assembly Guide

December 12, 2019

Get your Advanced Autonomous Kit for the Sphero RVR built up with this hookup guide!

Ardumoto Kit Hookup Guide

April 14, 2017

Learn how to assemble and drive DC motors using the v2.0 Ardumoto Shield.

Assembly Guide for SparkFun JetBot AI Kit V2.0

March 27, 2020

Assembly Guide for the SparkFun JetBot AI Kit v2.0. This tutorial includes photos & comments to assemble the two-layer chassis & additional components unique to the JetBot kit.

Basic Autonomous Kit for Sphero RVR Assembly Guide

December 12, 2019

Get your Basic Autonomous Kit for Sphero RVR all hooked up with this guide!

Basic Servo Control for Beginners

February 25, 2020

An introductory tutorial demonstrating several ways to use and interact with servo motors!

Big Easy Driver Hookup Guide

February 13, 2015

How to get started with the SparkFun Big Easy Driver.

Blynk Board Project Guide

March 25, 2016

A series of Blynk projects you can set up on the Blynk Board without ever re-programming it.

Building an Autonomous Vehicle: The Batmobile

December 6, 2016

Documenting a six-month project to race autonomous Power Wheels at the SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition (AVC) in 2016.

Building a Safe Cracking Robot

March 29, 2017

How to crack an unknown safe in under an hour.

Clap On Lamp

November 28, 2017

Modify a simple desk lamp to respond to a double clap (or other sharp noise) using parts from the SparkFun Inventor's Kit v4.0.

Continuous Rotation Servo Trigger Hookup Guide

May 26, 2016

How to use the SparkFun Continuous Rotation Servo Trigger with continuous rotation servos, without any programming!

Easy Driver Hook-up Guide

May 5, 2015

Get started using the SparkFun Easy Driver for those project that need a little motion.

Electret Mic Breakout Board Hookup Guide

June 23, 2016

An introduction to working with the Electret Mic Breakout Board.

ESP32 Thing Power Control Shield Hookup Guide

June 9, 2017

This tutorial shows you how to get started with the ESP32 Thing Power Control Shield.

Experiment Guide for RedBot with Shadow Chassis

May 28, 2015

This Experiment Guide offers nine experiments to get you started with the SparkFun RedBot. This guide is designed for those who are familiar with our SparkFun Inventor's Kit and want to take their robotics knowledge to the next level.

Experiment Guide for the Johnny-Five Inventor's Kit

June 28, 2016

Use the Tessel 2 and the Johnny Five Inventors kit to explore the world of JavaScript enabled hardware through 14 awesome experiments!

Getting Started with the AutoDriver - v13

September 15, 2016

SparkFun's AutoDriver is a powerful tool for controlling stepper motors. Here's how to use it.

Getting Started with the Autonomous Kit for the Sphero RVR

December 13, 2019

Want to get started in robotics? Look no further than the SparkFun autonomous kit for the Sphero RVR! Whether you purchased the Basic or Advanced kit, this tutorial will get you rolling...

GPS Differential Vector Pointer

May 31, 2016

Use GPS to have two objects, a base and a target, point towards one another. This can be used to aim a directional antenna (or in the case of this project, a laser) from one object to the other object at a distance that is only limited by your ability to provide the base station with the target's GPS location.

Hacker in Residence: The Harmonic Skew Zoetrope

January 27, 2015

Check out Hacker in Residence, Jesse's awesome Harmonic Skew Zoetrope in this project tutorial.

Haptic Motor Driver Hook-Up Guide

January 19, 2017

Good vibes only. Getting started with the Haptic Motor Driver.

Hobby Servo Tutorial

May 26, 2016

Servos are motors that allow you to accurately control the rotation of the output shaft, opening up all kinds of possibilities for robotics and other projects.
Viewing 63 Motors Tutorials. View All Tutorials.

Old Tutorials

Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the archived tutorials on the main SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer actively maintained.