A transport apparatus including a housing, a drive mounted to the housing, and at least one transport arm connected to the drive where the drive includes at least one rotor having at least one salient pole of magnetic permeable material and disposed in an isolated environment, at least one stator having at least one salient pole with corresponding coil units and disposed outside the isolated environment, where the at least one salient pole of the at least one stator and the at least one salient pole of the rotor form a closed magnetic flux circuit between the at least one rotor and the at least one stator, and at least one seal configured to isolate the isolated environment where the at least one seal is integral to the at least one stator.