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Honeywell discusses their disruptive new spherical motor

Care to share?

We conversed with Pablo Bandera, Honeywell’s Staff Engineer & Senior Manager about their new spherical motor.

  • Pablo, can you explain the origin to develop this new motor? What problem was it going to solve?

The spherical motor

was originally designed to be a miniature pointing mechanism for a small sensor or camera – basically a novel idea for a very compact 2-axis gimbal. However, as we explored things further we realized that this integrated 2-axis motion, depending on how it’s configured, can address a wide range of applications. The same fundamental design can, in fact, look very different. For example, a miniature camera gimbal, a control moment gyroscope, and a robotic joint all look very different from each other but are all enabled by the same set of motions provided by the spherical motor. In many cases, it allows you to re-engineer a system in ways that are simply not feasible or practical with multiple interconnected motors.

  • How long has Honeywell been working on this motor?

The first version was invented a few years ago. At that time, we didn’t identify a ready application so the idea was set aside as we focused on other priority technologies. In recent years Honeywell has been breathing new life into our motor and actuation capabilities and the spherical motor was revisited. It was quickly recognized as a differentiating technology and a potential vehicle for penetrating new and adjacent markets. We now have dedicated engineering and business development resources in Honeywell facilities across the globe, focusing specifically on the spherical motor.