Arduino is a great starting point for electronics, and with a motor shield it can also be a nice tidy platform for robotics and mechatronics. Here is a design for a full-featured motor shield that will be able to power many simple to medium-complexity projects. Features: *Brand new and high quality. *L293D is a monolithic integrated, high voltage, high current, 4-channel driver. *Basically this means using this chip you can use DC motors and power supplies of up to 10 Volts, thats some pretty big motors and the chip can supply a maximum current of 600mA per channel, the L293D chip is also what’s known as a type of H-Bridge. *The H-Bridge is typically an electrical circuit that enables a voltage to be applied across a load in either direction to an output, e.g. motor. *Can drive 4 DC motors or 2 stepper motors or 2 Servo. *Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-bit speed selection. *Up to 2 stepper motors (unipolar or bipolar) with single coil, double coil or interleaved stepping. *4 H-Bridges: per bridge provides 0.6A (1.2A peak current) with thermal protection, can run motors on 4.5V to 10V DC. *Pull down resistors keep motors disabled during power-up. *reset button. *2 external terminal power interface, for seperate logic/motor supplies. *Tested compatible for Arduino Mega, Diecimila & Duemilanove. *Size:6.8cm x 5.5cm x 2cm - 2.68inch x 2.17inch x 0.79inch.