Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could assist me in my science fair project. I am planning on using two stepper motors, and I need to figure out a way to move the stepper motors 180 degrees, up, down, right and left. I already have figured out how to rotate the stepper motor itself using an Arduino.
However, I need ideas on how to be able to create a simple machine to move the stepper motors themselves. For example, it would be as if I am moving the stepper motor to point at two different locations, on opposite sides of a room.
Please let me know if you have any ideas or any questions about what I am doing.
Thank you!
Alisa

You want to put the motors on long cables and physically move them around the room? Your description of what you want to do is somewhat confusing. A typical way of using steppers to control things is to put a toothed wheel on the motor and have it touching a timing (toothed) belt. Scanners and printers do this quite often. You can also put rubber wheels on the motors, mount the motors to a chassis and let it drive around the room like a mobile robot. Precision robots often use steppers instead of other kinds of motors.

If you could provide an example of what you'd like to do I'm sure we can come up with suggestions.

Howard