  The dynamics of co- and counter-rotating coupled spherical pendulums (two
lower pendulums are mounted at the end of the upper pendulum) is considered.
Linear mode analysis shows the existence of three rotating modes. Starting from
linear modes allow we calculate the nonlinear normal modes, which are and
present them in frequency-energy plots. With the increase of energy in one mode
we observe a symmetry breaking pitchfork bifurcation. In the second part of the
paper we consider energy transfer between pendulums having different energies.
The results for co-rotating (all pendulums rotate in the same direction) and
counter-rotating motion (one of lower pendulums rotates in the opposite
direction) are presented. In general, the energy fluctuations in
counter-rotating pendulums are found to be higher than in the co-rotating case.
