This stepper motor features 8 ‘teeth’ on the stator, driven by two coils wound as two levels (top and bottom) ... Some variants also have an internal clutch, while others don’t.

Stepper motors divide a full rotation into hundreds of discrete steps, which makes them ideal to precisely control movements, be it in cars, robots, 3D printers or CNC machines.

More specifically, permanent-magnet stepper motors include magnets on the rotor that align with the electromagnetic field moved by sequentially energizing and de-energizing stator coils.

Here’s a look at servo and stepper motors’ characteristics as they relate to linear motion. (Brushless DC motors will be considered servo motors for this article.) Torque vs. Speed .