ROBOTICS | Measuring repeatability of a strain wave gear from Harmonic Drive

A high gear ratio with no backlash in a very compact size - is what makes the strain wave gear a key component for precision industrial robots. The strain wave transmission (also known as a harmonic drive) was invented in the fifties and has not changed since then. Moreover, it’s difficult to find better alternatives to this day. Thanks to the strain wave gears, industrial robots are known to be extremely repeatable. The repeatability of modern industrial robots can reach a few micrometers over thousands of cyclic operations. For comparison, a human red blood cell has a diameter of approximately 5-10 micrometers. As an example, this video shows the repeatability test of a single-axis robot that uses the strain wave gear from @Harmonic Drive LLC. The measured repeatability is less than 1 micrometer ( mm). Special thanks to @Tinymovr for developing a compact high-performance BLDC controller. Instagram: GrabCAD: