CircuitPython Servo

Kattni Rembor

In order to use servos, we take advantage of pulseio. Now, in theory, you could just use the raw pulseio calls to set the frequency to 50 Hz and then set the pulse widths. But we would rather make it a little more elegant and easy!

So, instead we will use adafruit_motor which manages servos for you quite nicely! adafruit_motor is a library so be sure to grab it from the library bundle if you have not yet! If you need help installing the library, check out the CircuitPython Libraries page.

Servos come in two types: 

  • A standard hobby servo - the horn moves 180 degrees (90 degrees in each direction from zero degrees).
  • A continuous servo - the horn moves in full rotation like a DC motor. Instead of an angle specified, you set a throttle value with 1.0 being full forward, 0.5 being half forward, 0 being stopped, and -1 being full reverse, with other values between.

Servo Wiring

Servos will only work on PWM-capable pins! Check your board details to verify which pins have PWM outputs.

The connections for a servo are the same for standard servos and continuous rotation servos.

Connect the servo's brown or black ground wire to ground on the CircuitPython board.

Connect the servo's red power wire to 5V power, USB power is good for a servo or two. For more than that, you'll need an external battery pack. Do not use 3.3V for powering a servo!

Connect the servo's yellow or white signal wire to the control/data pin, in this case A1 or A2 but you can use any PWM-capable pin.

For example, to wire a servo to Trinket, connect the ground wire to GND, the power wire to USB, and the signal wire to 0.

 

Remember, A2 on Trinket is labeled "0".

 

 

For Gemma, use jumper wire alligator clips to connect the ground wire to GND, the power wire to VOUT, and the signal wire to A2.

For Circuit Playground Express and Circuit Playground Bluefruit, use jumper wire alligator clips to connect the ground wire to GND, the power wire to VOUT, and the signal wire to A2.

For boards like Feather M0 Express, ItsyBitsy M0 Express and Metro M0 Express, connect the ground wire to any GND, the power wire to USB or 5V, and the signal wire to A2.

For the Metro M4 Express, ItsyBitsy M4 Express and the Feather M4 Express, connect the ground wire to any G or GND, the power wire to USB or 5V, and the signal wire to A1.

Standard Servo Code

Here's an example that will sweep a servo connected to pin A2 from 0 degrees to 180 degrees (-90 to 90 degrees) and back:

Download: Project Zip or CircuitPython_Servo.py | View on Github 
import time
import board
import pulseio
from adafruit_motor import servo

# create a PWMOut object on Pin A2.
pwm = pulseio.PWMOut(board.A2, duty_cycle=2 ** 15, frequency=50)

# Create a servo object, my_servo.
my_servo = servo.Servo(pwm)

while True:
    for angle in range(0, 180, 5):  # 0 - 180 degrees, 5 degrees at a time.
        my_servo.angle = angle
        time.sleep(0.05)
    for angle in range(180, 0, -5): # 180 - 0 degrees, 5 degrees at a time.
        my_servo.angle = angle
        time.sleep(0.05)

Continuous Servo Code

There are two differences with Continuous Servos vs. Standard Servos:

  1. The servo object is created like my_servo = servo.ContinuousServo(pwm) instead of my_servo = servo.Servo(pwm)
  2. Instead of using myservo.angle, you use my_servo.throttle using a throttle value from 1.0 (full on) to 0.0 (stopped) to -1.0 (full reverse). Any number between would be a partial speed forward (positive) or reverse (negative). This is very similar to standard DC motor control with the adafruit_motor library.

This example runs full forward for 2 seconds, stops for 2 seconds, runs full reverse for 2 seconds, then stops for 4 seconds.

Download: Project Zip or CircuitPython_Continuous_Servo.py | View on Github 
# Continuous Servo Test Program for CircuitPython
import time
import board
import pulseio
from adafruit_motor import servo

# create a PWMOut object on Pin A2.
pwm = pulseio.PWMOut(board.A2, frequency=50)

# Create a servo object, my_servo.
my_servo = servo.ContinuousServo(pwm)

while True:
    print("forward")
    my_servo.throttle = 1.0
    time.sleep(2.0)
    print("stop")
    my_servo.throttle = 0.0
    time.sleep(2.0)
    print("reverse")
    my_servo.throttle = -1.0
    time.sleep(2.0)
    print("stop")
    my_servo.throttle = 0.0
    time.sleep(4.0)

Pretty simple!

Note that we assume that 0 degrees is 0.5ms and 180 degrees is a pulse width of 2.5ms. That's a bit wider than the official 1-2ms pulse widths. If you have a servo that has a different range you can initialize the servo object with a different min_pulse and max_pulse. For example:

servo = adafruit_motor.servo.Servo(pwm, min_pulse = 500, max_pulse = 2500) 

For more detailed information on using servos with CircuitPython, check out the CircuitPython section of the servo guide!

CIRCUITPYTHON PWM CircuitPython Cap Touch
This guide was first published on Aug 23, 2017. It was last updated on Aug 23, 2017. This page (CircuitPython Servo) was last updated on Feb 20, 2020.