I want to use a motor to control the direction of a wheel (from above the wheel) and I'm not sure which road to take in terms of hardware. I could use a standard DC motor with a rotary encoder giving me feedback on the steering angle, and reverse direction as needed but I think a stepper is my best bet. Will a stepper work given the various unknown forces acting on it as the wheel rotates to the correct alignment? Or do I need a closed loop servo that will allow me to adjust as the steering wheel is bumped off course? This is for a small 12v prototype vehicle. Thanks in advance!
What does "small 12V prototype vehicle" mean to you? Size? Weight? Number of wheels? Speed? Layout? etc.
I'd normally use a servo and so would nearly all RC model vehicles up to about 1/4 scale. But I have no idea if that would be suitable for you.
Steve
When it comes to steering a servo makes more sense than DC motor with encoder.
Steering means limited rotation (~120° or so) and wanting to know absolute position. That's just screaming "Servo!".
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