From helping explain the function of H-bridges to the pinouts of bipolar transistors – and more! – check out the links below for some cool articles spotted over at Medium on the topic of DC motor control for robotics – authored by Simon from Pollen Robotics.

One of the main features of these motors is the simplicity of use: if you plug each wire of a battery to the motor’s terminals, it is likely to turn one way. If you switch the wires, it will turn the other way.
(Of course, it’s a little bit more complicated, since the battery must not be too powerful for the motor. If not, the motor may be damaged.)

But this is the problem : it just turns. No speed control. No direction control, unless you manually inverse the wires. At this point your motor is a little bit impertinent. This is painful if you want to build a rover robot for Venus ground (Mars is so 2017)…

Now if we talk about priorities, we would find that direction control comes just before speed control. Why? Basically, because you’d rather have a rover that rolls way too fast with jerky turns, than a rover that moves smoothly in only one direction — and cannot turn. Yes, you get it.

So let’s put aside the speed control for a while, and let’s focus on the direction control.

Check out the articles below (and Follow Simon’s bio for future articles):

How to lift a banana: a guide to motors in robotics

PART 1 — Direction control

PART 2 — Speed control