A stepper motor is a brushless

Brushless DC electric motor

Brushless DC motors also known as electronically commutated motors are electric motors powered by direct-current electricity and having electronic commutation systems, rather than mechanical commutators and brushes...

, electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

 that can divide a full rotation into a large number of steps. The motor's position can be controlled precisely

Accuracy and precision

In the fields of science, engineering, industry and statistics, the accuracy of a measurement system is the degree of closeness of measurements of a quantity to that quantity's actual value. The precision of a measurement system, also called reproducibility or repeatability, is the degree to which...

 without any feedback mechanism (see Open-loop controller

Open-loop controller

An open-loop controller, also called a non-feedback controller, is a type of controller that computes its input into a system using only the current state and its model of the system....

), as long as the motor is carefully sized to the application. Stepper motors are similar to switched reluctance motors

Reluctance motor

A reluctance motor is a type of electric motor that induces non-permanent magnetic poles on the ferromagnetic rotor. Torque is generated through the phenomenon of magnetic reluctance.A reluctance motor, in its various incarnations, may be known as a:...

 (which are very large stepping motors with a reduced pole count, and generally are closed-loop commutated).