The Difference Between Servo Motors and DC Motors

A servomotor is a special type of motor that allows you to control the position of the shaft at any given moment. It is designed to move a certain amount of degrees and then stay fixed in one position.

I think that all of us, many of us, when we were little, liked to play with little motorcycles, those that brought certain toys and that worked with a couple of batteries. In my case, many of my toys ended up being victims of autopsies with the sole purpose of extracting the organ responsible for giving them life (movement), that is, the engine.

I think that when they talk to us about DC motors, most of us think of the ones shown in the image. This type of motor has the characteristic that when reversing the polarity of the motor, it changes its direction of rotation. It is one of the most used features in the remote-control cars.

Usually DC motors rotate without stopping. They are not able to give a certain amount of turns or stop at a fixed position. They only rotate and rotate without stopping, until the power supply is interrupted. This means that it is not possible to use them for robotic issues, since in this type of applications you need precise movements and maintain fixed positions. The truth is that this is not the only type of DC motor that exists.

This is where Servomotors came into existence. They are used for the construction of robots. These are characterized to allow a controlled movement and to deliver a greater torque than a common DC motor. However, I have decided to write this exclusive post on the subject. In this article, we will take a look at what are the servomotors, their uses and main characteristics.

Definition of servomotor

A servomotor (or servo) is a special type of motor with special position control features. When talking about a servomotor, reference is made to a system composed of electro-mechanical and electronic components.

The motor inside a servo motor is a common DC motor. The motor shaft is coupled to a gearbox similar to a transmission. This is done to boost the motor torque and allow to maintain a fixed position when required. Similar to a car, the lower the speed, the lower the torque. The electronic circuit is responsible for handling the movement and the position of the motor.

So, that was a short post about the difference between normal DC motor and the special servo motor for robots. If want more information, you can Google it and if you want to buy one, you can go to servo robot Rozum. Have a nice day and happy roboting.