Hardware

Servo Motor

A servo motor is a motor packaged with feedback sensing and closed-loop control so it can track commanded position, velocity, or torque. The category spans inexpensive hobby servos with integrated potentiometers and controllers, smart serial-bus servos like Dynamixel and Feetech units common in research arms, and industrial AC servos with high-resolution encoders and external drives. Feedback control distinguishes servos from open-loop actuators such as steppers.

Why it matters for physical AI

Nearly every joint on a modern manipulator is a servo of some kind, and the quality of its torque control and feedback resolution bounds what any learned controller can achieve.