Driving electromotors needs a high current. In addition, spinning direction and speed are two important parameters to be controlled. These requirements can be handled by using a microcontroller (or a development board like Arduino). But there is a problem; Microcontrollers cannot provide enough current to run the motor and if you connect the motor to the microcontroller directly, you may damage the microcontroller. For example, Arduino UNO pins are limited to 40mA of current which is far less than the 100-200mA current necessary to control a small hobby motor. To solve this, we should use a motor driver. Motor drivers can be connected to the microcontroller to receive commands and run the motor with a high current.

L293D is one of the most popular motor drivers to run DC motors with up to 1A current load.L293D has 4 outputs which makes it suitable for 4-wire stepper motors. L293D can also be used to drive servo motors. In this project, you will learn how to drive motors with L293 and Arduino UNO as the controller. To learn more about L293D, do not miss this article: L293D: Theory, Diagram, Simulation & Pinout.