Skipping and rolo-skip electrical motors

A stepper motor comprising:

• a stator and a rotor;
• a plurality of N greater than two electromagnets mounted to the stator or to the rotor, each of the electromagnets comprising a low coercivity (HC) core having at least one contact surface, wherein the at least one contact surface of any of the cores is rotatable about a same first axis of rotation with a same first radius of rotation into substantial congruence with at least a portion of the at least one contact surface of any other of the electromagnet cores;
• a coupling of the rotor to the stator configured to enable rotation of the rotor and contact of the stator and rotor along at least one contact surface during operation of the motor;
• and
• a controller;
• wherein energizing two of the electromagnets to magnetize their respective cores and energizing one of the electromagnets to remove a magnetic B-field in its core causes the rotor to rotate and the controller is operable to energize the electromagnets to cause the rotor to rotate from a first motor state of the stepper motor in which the stator and rotor are in contact along a first pair of contact surfaces comprising a contact surface from each core of a first pair of rotationally adjacent electromagnets mounted to the stator or rotor and matching surface regions of the rotor or stator respectively, to a second motor state in which the stator and rotor are in contact along a second pair of contact surfaces comprising a contact surface from each core of a second pair of rotationally adjacent electromagnets and matching surface regions of the rotor or stator respectively, which second pair of contact surfaces shares a contact surface with the first pair of contact surfaces.