subject: Servo in the USA [print this page] Unless you are an engineer, you probably have no idea what a servo is, or what it is used for. The funny thing is that a servo is something that is inside a lot of everyday items we use. Among the common objects with a servo in the USA are: cars, autofocus cameras, and hard disk drives. Other uses include factory machinery, robots, and marine and air navigation systems, among others. These motors are very sophisticated At the industrial level, when a servo machine breaks down, you will have to find a specialist in servo drive repair, especially if it is specific to a manufacturer such as a Parker servo drive. Like other servo drive mechanics, specialists in Yaskawa servo motor repair or Fanuc servo motor repair can easily be found online.
But one of the most common places you can find a servo motor is in a child's toy. While the concept of radio control has been around since 1893, as demonstrated by Nikola Tesla, the use of servo motors for the purpose of controlling the movement of a toy came much later. Remote-controlled toys such as planes, boats, and cars use servo drive motors to power the device as well as give the user the ability to steer the toy in the desired direction using a pulse width modulation system. Servo motors are controlled using pulses of energy and the duration of this pulse determines the distance the toy wil travel.
A servo is the device of choice for these toys because it combines three important components in one small package: it is a small motor running on DC (direct current), while increasing torque using a gear reduction drive and a feedback control loop. This system is simplified for children's toys. For hobbyists, more high-end servo RC systems are available, using a computerized signal as compared with analog signals. Like other serious hobbyists and robotics engineers, you can build your own servo motor from the comfort of your home. All you need is a bit of technical know-how, some materials, and a great deal of patience. How-to guides are widely available, in book format as well as online, where you can find websites and videos dedicated to this task. You can also expect a great deal of support and technical know-how from the online community of hobbyists. Some websites and companies also sell a build-it-yourself servo engine kit.
