Ever wonder exactly how to use a servo motor? How about 16 of them from a single serial connection?

Make Magazine’s Blog dug up an interesting way to accomplish this. To update servo positions, a host sends a serial signal to an Amtel microcontroller. The Amtel remembers the positions and generates 16 different control signals. (One signal for each servo). The data is sent as follows:

• Byte1 = Sync (255)
• Byte2 = Servo# (0-15)
• Byte3 = Position (0-254)

The host is either the serial port of a computer or a single pin of a master microcontroller. Therefore, a PC program similar to his own can be used to find the exact servo positions necessary for the application before the code is embedded on a microcontroller in the robot.

Schematics and code are included. Other than that you are on your own.