The device, shaped like a ball that rotates in a socket, is the invention of Dr. Gregory S. Chirikjian, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Conventional motors turn on an axis moving in one direction.
Because the new globe-shaped motor gives such a range of play to the artificial arms, wrists or shoulders it may one day direct, it could lead to robots that can reach and grasp objects far more precisely and flexibly than current ones do. The idea of spherical motors is not new, Dr. Chirikjian said. But this is the first time there's been a spherical motor with this range of motion. The motor is made from a plastic globe embedded with magnets and spun by computer-controlled electromagnets that tug on it at the command of complex software. It may be useful not only in robotic wrists, elbows and shoulders, allowing them to move forward, backward, sideways and around, but it may also be employed in omnidirectional wheels for mobile robots, and in highly flexible conveyor systems that will be able to sort and direct objects precisely.