In fabricationACTL1

ESP32 Servo Driver Board

Build a board that moves a servo on command.

Track: ACT
Level: L1
Prerequisites: 1
Status: Coming soon

▸ Register interest

This board is on the bench. Leave your email and you'll be first in when it ships, and your interest helps decide what we build next.

Get notified when it opens

What you'll build

Build a board that moves a hobby servo on command over PWM. The interesting part isn't the signal — it's the power: a stalling servo can brown out your microcontroller and reset it mid-move. You'll design around that with a separate supply rail, a bulk capacitor sized for the stall current, and wide, short high-current traces.

It sits on the ACT track: driving the physical world with motors, servos, and high-power lighting under precise control.

Tools for this build

Free calculators that do the math this board needs. Each is worked from a real OTD board, with the formula and a cited source.

LDO headroom + dissipation calculator (linear regulator)Check a linear regulator's headroom against its dropout and find the power it dissipates as heat, from Vin, Vout, dropout, and load current.

The build pipeline

No steps skipped, no black boxes. Each stage is gated on real proof of work: a clean ERC, valid gerbers, a passing bring-up. You finish having actually done the engineering, not just watched it.

01REQUIREMENTS
02BOM SOURCING
03SCHEMATIC
04LAYOUT
05DRC + GERBER
06ORDERING
07ASSEMBLY
08BRING-UP
09REVISION

Builds on

ESP32-S3 USB-C Breakout Board

Questions

When does this course open?: It's in active production. Join the waitlist and we'll email you the moment it goes live, and the demand signal helps us decide what to build next.
Is it beginner-friendly?: This is a foundational L1 board, approachable if you can read a schematic. Every stage is explained from first principles, so you can follow along as long as you're comfortable reading a schematic.
What will I need to build it?: The course overview will preview for free; the full course is a one-time purchase (no subscription). Building the board for real also needs its bill of materials (listed in the course) and a small PCB order from a fab house. The course walks you through both.
What will I actually learn?: You'll learn driving the physical world with motors, servos, and high-power lighting under precise control, plus the full board workflow: schematic capture, layout, DRC, gerber export, ordering, assembly, and bring-up.

Part of the path from your first board to a brain-computer interface. See the full skill tree →

What you'll build

It sits on the ACT track: driving the physical world with motors, servos, and high-power lighting under precise control.

The build pipeline

No steps skipped, no black boxes. Each stage is gated on real proof of work: a clean ERC, valid gerbers, a passing bring-up. You finish having actually done the engineering, not just watched it.

01REQUIREMENTS

02BOM SOURCING

03SCHEMATIC

04LAYOUT

05DRC + GERBER

06ORDERING

07ASSEMBLY

08BRING-UP

09REVISION

Questions

When does this course open?

It's in active production. Join the waitlist and we'll email you the moment it goes live, and the demand signal helps us decide what to build next.

Is it beginner-friendly?

This is a foundational L1 board, approachable if you can read a schematic. Every stage is explained from first principles, so you can follow along as long as you're comfortable reading a schematic.

What will I need to build it?

The course overview will preview for free; the full course is a one-time purchase (no subscription). Building the board for real also needs its bill of materials (listed in the course) and a small PCB order from a fab house. The course walks you through both.

What will I actually learn?

You'll learn driving the physical world with motors, servos, and high-power lighting under precise control, plus the full board workflow: schematic capture, layout, DRC, gerber export, ordering, assembly, and bring-up.