QuadMotorHAT

A simple Raspberry Pi HAT for controlling four DC motors.

Why I made it

While making my WRO robot, I ran into a problem: I needed to control multiple motors from a Raspberry Pi without a mess of separate boards and wiring.

There are already plenty of motor HATs available, but I wanted something simple that fit what I needed. So I decided to design my own.

Features

• 4 motor control — Control four motors from the Raspberry Pi using the included Python library.
• Screw terminals — Secure connections for the motors and power.
• Compact design — Keeps a low profile while leaving enough room for a cooling fan on the Raspberry Pi.
• Simple Python control — Control the motors directly from your Python project.

Python Library

The repository includes quadmotorhat.py, which provides a simple interface for controlling the four motors.

First, install gpiozero:

pip install gpiozero

Then place quadmotorhat.py in the same directory as your Python program:

your_project/
├── quadmotorhat.py
└── main.py

Import the motor controls:

from quadmotorhat import M1, M2, M3, M4

You can then use M1, M2, M3, and M4 to control the four motor outputs.

PCB Files

The full board design is included in the repository.

• QuadMotorHAT.kicad_sch — Schematic
• QuadMotorHAT.kicad_pcb — PCB layout
• QuadMotorHAT.kicad_pro — KiCad project

You can open these files in KiCad to inspect or modify the design.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the license included in this repository.