Abstract
When a robot system is developed by only normal motors that rotate around axis, the necessary number of motors is the same as that of joints resulting in large and complicated system. On the other hand, spherical motors will realize a small and simple mechanism because they can rotate in various directions. A group of spherical motors that can rotate in 360 degrees is proposed by applying the working principle of planer stepping motors to spherical motors. There are various types in arranging permanent magnets on the rotor and electro-magnets on the stator. The authors developed a spherical motor in which a permanent magnet is placed on the apex of a truncated octahedron for the rotor and an electro-magnet is place on either the apex of a regular dodecahedron or the middle point of two apexes for the stator. The spherical motor has two kinds of rotation axes and rotates totally around six axes. This study evaluates experimentally (l) the relation between the frequency of 5 phase AC and rotation frequency and (2) rotation output torque of the developed spherical motor.
