Motor Peripheral Input/Output

Types of motors:

Stepper Motors (long life, high torque, hold exact position without feedback, but need drivers, and are low speed and efficiency, medium cost)
DC Motors (high efficiency, strong, fast, low cost, cheap drivers but provide lower torque at low speeds, often requiring gearing of some sort, can't hold position or speed unless part of a servo. Short life)
AC Motors (Efficient, fast, strong at speed, low cost, long life, but require special drivers, low resolution position control possible, generally low torque; need gearing)
Universal (AC/DC) Motors. By removing the magnets, and using a second "field" winding instead, these motors can be used with either AC or DC power.
Servo "Motors" are really a system with a controller, position encoders, and driver along with any type of motor; Stepper, DC, AC, etc.... (can be very strong, fast and efficient, but need gearing, sensors, complex control, and tuning to avoid oscillation and achieve good position control, higher cost)

Methods:

Motion Control Methods and
Microcontroller based Motion Controllers (RAMPs/Marlin, GRBL, etc...)
PID Control
Torque: Measuring and Torque Units Conversions
Speed / torque regulation
Tachometer, RPM Sensors
Over-Current
Position Encoders - Quadrature
Relays
PWM ... vs Switched continuous power
H-Bridges
The BOB

Also:

Gears, Mechanical power transmission, torque, ratio, drive train
PIC Microcontoller Input / Output Methods for DC Perminant Magnet Motors
Easy Vision Systems : "Think about this: Would you rather pay for high precision bearings, drive trains, and encoders for each joint in an arm, or pay for two high precision servos for a tiny little eye that will track the end point of the arm?"

Motors from:

Hey, don't power the motor from the regulated supply that is running your processor... use the unregulated DC and connect the controller to the motor via a semiconductor like a transistor, mosfet, etc...

Start Simple

Lance Allen says

[Ed: Rather than relays or H-Bridges or PIDs in many cases you can drive a moter with a..] N channel LOGIC LEVEL mosfet such as RFD14N05L or even up to BUZ101L ( good for 29 amps). They are cheaper than a relay [ed: or anything else] and dont need another drive transistor.
The Mosfet connects the gate directly to the [uProcessor or control curcuit], the source to 0 volts and the drain to the motor -ve, motor +ve goes to +5volts. You will need a reverse biased diode across the motor for back EMF suppression, such as 1N4004

EMF detection

When the motor stops rotating it'll stop making back EMF and the voltage across it will drop. You can use an op amp as a comparator.

Rewinding motors for higher RPM: fewer winding turns of larger diameter wire = more current = higher RPM

Motor Peripheral Input/Output

Start Simple

EMF detection

See also: