Patent ID: 8875594

Claim:
A humanoid robot comprising: a spherical joint with three degrees of freedom in rotation about three axes, the spherical joint connecting a first element and a second element of the robot; and three actuators for moving the spherical joint, the three actuators including a first actuator including a rotor and a stator, the stator being fixed to the first element, a second actuator fixed to the second element at a first location and fixed to the rotor of the first actuator at a second location, and a third actuator fixed to the second element at a third location and fixed to the rotor of the first actuator at a fourth location, wherein the second actuator and the third actuator act in parallel, wherein the first actuator acts in series with the second actuator and the third actuator about a first axis of the three axes, and wherein an angular range of movement about the first axis is greater than an angular range of movement about either a second axis or a third axis of the three axes.