Hobby Servos

A hobby servo is built from a regular brushed motor, gear train, a position sensor, and some internal circuitry. It will only move back and forth 180 degrees; it can’t turn around continuously. This makes them useful for moving joints on a robot arm or flaps on an airplane, but not for wheels on a car. They are very inexpensive and easy to use, so they are common in hobby projects. While there are some industrial versions, their inaccuracy makes them rare in commercial products.

Connections

Servo connections are super easy; just plug the three position plug on the end of the servo right onto the three pins for Pin 0 on the breakout board. Be sure that the brown servo wire is ground ( black pin ) and the orange servo wire is the signal ( yellow ).

Program

First, install the servo extension into Makecode:

Then, create a new program like this one:

You can import this program from https://github.com/League-Microbit/Stepper-Sweep.git.

Your servo should now be sweeping back and forth through the full range of its motion, 180 degrees.

Learn More

If you are interested in the details of how a hobby servo, this video offers a complete teardown and explaination of the parts.