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Those are 6 V motors, I think (please check). You are feeding the motor shield with 4.8 V, and the not-very-efficient L293D will drop the voltage the motor sees by 1.4 V to 1.8 V, so you end up with only 3 to 3.4 V across the motor.

Using 4 primary cells of 1.5 V each, or 5 cells of 1.2 V each, should show some improvement, and yes, so would a more efficient motor driver; there are several options for that these days, and they will make a big difference.

You can experiment by connecting a motor to 4.8 V and to 6 V, both with and without the motor driver inbetween, and see the differences.

Those are 6 V motors, I think (please check). You are feeding the motor shield with 4.8 V, and the not-very-efficient L293D will drop the voltage the motor sees by 1.4 V to 1.8 V, so you end up with only 3 to 3.4 V across the motor.

Using 4 primary cells of 1.5 V each, or 5 cells of 1.2 V each, should show some improvement, and yes, so would a more efficient motor driver; there are several options (that use MOSFETs) for that these days, and they will make a big difference.

You can experiment by connecting a motor to 4.8 V and to 6 V, both with and without the motor driver inbetween, and see the differences.

Those are 6 V motors, I think (please check). You are feeding the motor shield with 4.8 V, and the not-very-efficient L293D will drop the voltage the motor sees by 1.4 V to 1.8 V, so you end up with only 3 to 3.4 V across the motor.

Using 4 primary cells of 1.5 V each, or 5 cells of 1.2 V each, should show some improvement, and yes, so would a more efficient motor driver; there are several options for that these days, and they will make a big difference.

You can experiment by connecting a motor to 4.8 V and to 6 V, both with and without the motor driver inbetween, and see the differences.

Those are 6 V motors, I think (please check). You are feeding the motor shield with 4.8 V, and the not-very-efficient L293D will drop the voltage the motor sees by 1.4 V to 1.8 V, so you end up with only 3 to 3.4 V across the motor.

Using 4 primary cells of 1.5 V each, or 5 cells of 1.2 V each, should show some improvement, and yes, so would a more efficient motor driver; there are several options for that these days, and they will make a big difference.

You can experiment by connecting a motor to 4.8 V and to 6 V, both with and without the motor driver inbetween, and see the differences.

Those are 6V motors, I think (please check). You are feeding the motor shield with 4.8V, and the L293D will drop the voltage the motor sees by 1.4V to 1.8V, so you end up with only 3 to 3.4V across the motor.

Using 4 primary cells of 1.5V each, or 5 cells of 1.2V each, should show some improvement, and yes, so would a more efficient motor driver.

You can experiment by connecting a motor to 4.8V and to 6V, both with and without the motor driver inbetween, and see the differences.

Those are 6 V motors, I think (please check). You are feeding the motor shield with 4.8 V, and the not-very-efficient L293D will drop the voltage the motor sees by 1.4 V to 1.8 V, so you end up with only 3 to 3.4 V across the motor.

Using 4 primary cells of 1.5 V each, or 5 cells of 1.2 V each, should show some improvement, and yes, so would a more efficient motor driver; there are several options for that these days, and they will make a big difference.

You can experiment by connecting a motor to 4.8 V and to 6 V, both with and without the motor driver inbetween, and see the differences.