The original L293D Motorshield kit is one of our most beloved kits, We kept the ability to drive up to 4 DC motors or 2 stepper motors, but added many improvements:

Instead of a L293D darlington driver, we now have the TB6612 MOSFET driver: with 1.2A per channel and 3A peak current capability. It also has much lower voltage drops across the motor so you get more torque out of your batteries, and there are built-in flyback diodes as well.

Instead of using a latch and the Ard's PWM pins, we have a fully-dedicated PWM driver chip onboard. This chip handles all the motor and speed controls over I2C. Only two pins (SDA & SCL) are required to drive the multiple motors, and since it's I2C you can also connect any other I2C devices or shields to the same pins. This also makes it drop-in compatible with any Ardu, such as the Uno, Due, Leonardo and Mega R3.

Completely stackable design: 5 address-select pins means up to 32 stackable shields: that's 64 steppers or 128 DC motors! What on earth could you do with that many steppers? I have no idea but if you come up with something send us a photo because that would be a pretty glorious project.

Tested compatible with Ardu UNO, Leonardo, ADK/Mega R3, Due, Diecimila & Duemilanove. Works with Mega/ADK R2 and earlier with 2 wire jumpers.

Fully compatible with the arduino interface extension
Communication through I2C and arduino, address can be modified
Can be connected 2 servos, output PWM drive
You can connect up to four DC brush motors or two 4-wire stepper motor
Use the TB6612FNG motor driver chip, 1.2A drive capability, peak 3.2A, with thermal shutdown protection, internal kickback protection diodes. Can run motors on 4.5VDC to 13.5VDC.