Hello all!
I am new to robotics but I have an idea I’d like to build. For it, I would need to control four stepper motors independently of each other, and all motors would need to be able to work in forward and reverse. I would like to control the motors independently with something like four different sliders on a control panel. I’m thinking the middle point of the each slider would be no movement, while sliding up would cause the corresponding motor to turn forward (also would like variable speed control, ie the further the slider was up the faster the motor moved) and moving the slider down would cause the motor to turn in the reverse direction. A twist knob would also serve this purpose as well, but I like the idea of a slider better. One more thing - the stepper motors will not need to handle a big load. Maybe a few hundred grams. I would need them to move slowly as well; there won’t be much fast-paced moving required.
I’m sure I can get through building it once I’ve got the parts, but since I’m new to the scene what I really need help with is what exactly are the parts I need (and maybe some specific part suggestions)? And where could I find them?
I’m thinking it’ll be something like this
- 4 small stepper motors
- 4 sliders/knobs
- power source
It seems pretty simple I guess, but from my online research it seems controlling stepper motors is a fairly arduous task - not just a plug and play type thing. I looked into a regular DC motor, but I’m not sure these can be controlled down to the slow, precise speeds I’m needing. If it can be done more simply with another type of set up, I’m open to suggestions.
Any help would be really appreciated!!
Thanks!