I aim to build something over the next few years that will accurately adjust something, at the moment I can only think to use electronic motors. Does anyone know a way of powering electric motors via a computer? Preferably linked via USB. The power for the Motors will come from it's own power source. Any ideas on where to start? Ideal programming languages?
What kinds of motor ? What you need to examine first is how can you control the motor itself, or it's power source. Then you find out what is the easiest digital method for achieving that control, ideally with a serial interface. And in the end, you use a USB to serial converter, like these : http://www.ftdichip.com/FTProducts.htm With FTDI, you simply use it as COM port (it shows up as one in Windows) - that means you should look around for serial port interface implementations. I am sure pretty much any language (maybe except the web oriented ones) has support for that, either internally or through some library. There is no easy answer for your question as you can see .
Stepper motors can be moved a couple of degrees at a time and these can be controlled with an arduino. You could then link between the arduino board and the control computer if needed.
A bit overkill for simple tasks, but a duino board will leave you with plenty of scope for future adjustment and make it fairly simple.
If only someone had written a 'getting started' guide for newcomers to Arduino... Oh, wait... Like this one. Hooray!
cannibalize one of these? i received one for x-mas a few years ago. it comes with a lightweight little program that gives you left/right, up/down, and fire controls. pretty simple and pre-built.
