A magnetically suspended robot joint is developed, which is free of dust and oil generation. Two radial bearings consisting of cone-shaped magnet cores control the rotor motion in the axial and radial directions. A linearized dynamic model is developed for active control of the magnetic bearing system. The control algorithm is constructed such that the axial displacement of the joint is controlled by radial control current to the pairs of facing radial bearings. The stability and control performance is tested through numerical simulation based on the nonlinear model. Experiments are also performed to verify the theoretical development.