This sphere then sits in a 'saddle' of 16 circular electromagnets connected to the computer. When the engineers activate two or more of these electromagnets, there is an attractive magnetic force between the permanent magnets inside the sphere and the saddle, which pulls the ball into a new position. Moving a robot's elbow This is not the first attempt at a spherical motor but is the most advanced, the team says, and allows for a much greater degree of movement. The inventors say the spherical motor could act like a human shoulder joint by replacing the six standard electric motors needed to manipulate the 'elbow' of a robotic arm. This would allow the robot arm to move easily in three dimensions, as well as being more accurate because there are fewer moving parts.
Conventional motors work by converting electrical energy into rotational movement.
Find out how they do this. Think about applications, other than making robots more human-like in their movements, in which a spherical motor could be used.