{"id":1416,"date":"2025-07-11T17:07:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T09:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2025-07-11T17:07:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T09:07:39","slug":"%e4%ba%ba%e5%bd%a2%e6%9c%ba%e5%99%a8%e4%ba%ba%e8%b5%9b%e9%81%93%e4%b9%8b%e5%87%8f%e9%80%9f%e6%9c%ba%e7%9a%84%e6%b7%b1%e5%ba%a6%e4%bb%8b%e7%bb%8d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/%e4%ba%ba%e5%bd%a2%e6%9c%ba%e5%99%a8%e4%ba%ba%e8%b5%9b%e9%81%93%e4%b9%8b%e5%87%8f%e9%80%9f%e6%9c%ba%e7%9a%84%e6%b7%b1%e5%ba%a6%e4%bb%8b%e7%bb%8d.html","title":{"rendered":"An in-depth look at gearboxes for the humanoid robot track"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. The core function of the precision reducer is to reduce speed and increase torque, which is an indispensable device in the field of precision transmission.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reducer is a power transmission device, which is an intermediate mechanism connecting the power source and actuator. It can convert the input of high rotational speed and low torque to the output of low rotational speed and high torque through the internal gear and worm gears and other transmission mechanisms. At the same time, it also serves to increase transmission accuracy and load capacity. Among them, the precision reducer with small return clearance and high transmission accuracy has high technical barriers and strong market demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precision reducer<\/strong>According to the structure can generally be divided intoPlanetary reducers, harmonic reducers, RV reducers, ring-enveloped worm gear reducers<\/strong>etc., commonly used in high-end fields such as robotics and CNC machine tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The development of the humanoid robot industry has contributed to the rapid expansion of the market for precision planetary gearboxes, harmonic gearboxes, and ring-enveloped worm gearboxes. From the current structure of each humanoid robot body, the use of more planetary, harmonic reducer and ring envelope worm gear reducer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tesla humanoid robot Optimus Gen-2, for example, uses a total of 14 harmonic speed reducers and 12 planetary speed reducers in its whole body, 14 harmonic speed reducers are used in rotary joints of shoulder, elbow, waist and other parts of the body, and 12 planetary speed reducers are used in the internal transmission device of dexterous hand (6 for one hand). Some domestic humanoid robot dexterous hand joints have begun to try the ring-enveloped worm gear reducer, by virtue of the small size to adapt to the limited space of the finger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harmonaco has obvious advantages in the field of harmonic reducer, Green's Harmonic and other domestic enterprises rise to catch up. According to GGII data, in 2021, Harmonic reducer market share in the field of harmonic reducer more than 80%, the competitive advantage is obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China in the field of precision harmonic reducer started late, the domestic harmonic reducer enterprise market share is low, but the green harmonic as the representative of the independent enterprise, after years of research and development, the first in China to realize the harmonic reducer industrialized production and large-scale application, breaking the monopoly of the international brand in the field of domestic robot harmonic reducer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the domestic independent brand reducer manufacturers and domestic robot manufacturers to cooperate, the independent brand market share is steadily increasing. In addition, the current domestic humanoid robot industry blossomed, with the rapid response and cost advantages, the independent brand precision reducer enterprises are expected to fully benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intelligent cars and AI robotics technology have the same origin, and domestic auto parts companies are scrambling to lay out humanoid robots, and the two industry chains may be highly overlapping. Tesla directly reused FSD and Autopilot technology to Optimus humanoid robot, showing that intelligent cars and robot software algorithms have the same origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiaopeng, millet, BYD, GAC and other automobile OEMs have begun to invest in humanoid robot research and development, and auto parts in the typical enterprises (such as Top, three flowers, Beitel, Best, Haoneng, etc.) also have to expand the business of humanoid robot-related parts, we believe that the future of automobile OEMs may become an important producer of humanoid robots and end-users (eg, manufacturing scenarios), automotive industry chain and the Humanoid robot industry chain is expected to be highly overlapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.1 Gearboxes: key transmission components for reducing speed and increasing torque<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Definition:<\/strong>A speed reducer is a device that is in the middle of the power source and actuator, and is a power transmission mechanism that utilizes a speed converter of gears to decelerate the number of revolutions of an electric motor to the desired number of revolutions, and to obtain a large torque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role:<\/strong>
a) Reducing the rotational speed: During the operation of the equipment, the motor can provide a high rotational speed, but different application scenarios and functional requirements need to match different rotational speeds, so it is necessary to use a speed reducer to decelerate the output speed of the motor.
b) Increased torque: The reduction in speed is rewarded by an increase in torque, which allows a motor with a constant rated output power to cope with larger loads and fight against greater resistance.
c) Increase transmission accuracy: The gearbox can improve the transmission accuracy of the motor, reduce the transmission error and return error, and is suitable for occasions with high requirements for transmission accuracy.
d) Increased Load Capacity: The geared motor increases the output torque through the speed reducer, which increases the adaptability of the system to the load and is able to withstand larger loads and shock loads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classification:<\/strong>Reducers can be categorized into three types according to their use and precision: 1) General-purpose reducers, which are widely used in many fields to meet basic power transmission needs;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2) Specialized gearboxes, mainly large, extra-large, mostly non-standard, industry-specific products, including marine gearboxes, metallurgical gearboxes, wind power gearboxes, construction machinery gearboxes and so on;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(3) Precision reducer, small return clearance, high transmission accuracy, commonly used in robotics, CNC machine tools and other high-end fields, including precision planetary reducer, RV reducer, harmonic reducer, ring surface envelope worm gear reducer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

02 Precision gearboxes mainly include planetary, RV, harmonic, ring-enveloped worm gearboxes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Precision reducers can be divided into four categories based on their structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1)Planetary reducer<\/strong>: It mainly consists of planetary wheels, sun wheels and internal gear rings, with a compact structure and high transmission efficiency, and is suitable for part of the body rotary joints in robots with medium requirements for precision;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2)RV Gearboxes<\/strong>: A wide range of reduction ratios and high load carrying capacity, good rigidity and resistance to overload impacts, widely used in heavy load positions such as robot bases, arms and shoulders;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3)Harmonic reducer<\/strong>Based on the elastic deformation principle of flexible wheel, it is small in size, light in weight and high in transmission precision, but relatively weak in load bearing capacity, which is more suitable to be applied to small arm, wrist, hand and other parts of industrial robots in 3C, semiconductor, and medical equipment industries;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4)Ring Envelope Worm Gear Reducer<\/strong>The drive is made by a ring worm gear and a worm wheel, which realizes high efficiency transmission by relying on a special form of tooth contact, and is compact and smooth, especially suitable for precision joints with limited space, such as robot dexterous hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparison of the characteristics of four types of precision reducers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precision gearboxes have their own advantages and disadvantages due to structural differences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Precision Planetary Reducer<\/strong>Known for its high rigidity, high transmission efficiency, strong shock resistance, compact size, economic price and long life, but the ratio is relatively low, multi-stage structure will lead to increased volume, limited output torque, and relative accuracy is slightly inferior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6RV reducer<\/strong>On the other hand, it is outstanding for its high efficiency transmission, high precision output, high torque, high rigidity, wide range of transmission ratios and stable accuracy, however, its mass and volume are large, life is relatively short, processing process is complicated, and the price is high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Harmonic Reducer<\/strong>Excellent performance in terms of precision, transmission ratio, small transmission inertia, volume \/ weight can be greatly reduced to one-third \/ one-half of other reducers, but the elliptical deformation of the flexure wheel every two revolutions is easy to lead to material fatigue damage, loss of power, and there is a return error, does not have self-locking function, and there are also certain requirements for heat dissipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Ring Surface Envelope Worm Gear Reducer<\/strong>The transmission is smooth and shock-resistant, and because the tooth contact is face contact and multi-tooth meshing, the load carrying capacity is increased by more than 100% compared with the ordinary cylindrical worm gear reducer; at the same time, its structural design can realize a very small volume (the center distance of some models can be as high as 4.5mm), and it also has the characteristics of a natural 90 \u00b0 (orthogonal) transmission with self-locking, which is especially suitable for the scenes of space constraints or scenes that require 90 \u00b0 (orthogonal) transmission, not suitable for the scenes of 0 \u00b0 output. The natural 90\u00b0 (orthogonal) drive with self-locking is particularly suitable for space-constrained scenarios, or scenarios requiring 90\u00b0 (orthogonal) drive, but not for 0\u00b0 output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.1 Structure of planetary gearboxes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Structure and Principles:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planetary gear transmission mechanism is mainly composed of planetary gears, planetary racks and sun wheels. When the precision planetary gearhead works, usually the servo motor and other prime movers drive the sun wheel to rotate, and the meshing between the sun wheel and the planetary wheel drives the planetary wheel to generate rotation; at the same time, because the other side of the planetary wheel meshes with the ring-shaped inner gear ring on the inner wall of the gearhead housing, the planetary wheel will eventually roll along the same direction with the rotation of the sun wheel under the rotational drive in the ring-shaped inner gear ring to form a \"revolution\" motion around the rotation of the sun wheel. \"Rotation\" motion around the sun wheel. The planetary wheel rotates the planetary carrier through the revolution, and the planetary carrier is connected to the output shaft, which drives the output shaft to output torque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics of planetary gearboxes<\/strong>
Advantages of precision planetary reducer: high load carrying capacity, high transmission efficiency, low cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Higher load-bearing capacity:<\/strong>The structure of the planetary reducer is reasonably designed, and the planetary wheels are evenly distributed around the center wheel to share the load, which makes the load borne by each gear reduced, thus improving the overall load carrying capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6High transmission efficiency:<\/strong>The transmission structure of the planetary reducer is characterized by symmetry and uniform distribution, and the reaction force of the planetary wheel acting on the center wheel and arm bearing can be balanced with each other, which reduces the friction loss and improves the transmission efficiency (the transmission efficiency of a single-stage transmission can reach 97%-98%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Lower cost:<\/strong>Due to the simple structure of the planetary reducer itself, fewer parts need to be processed and assembled during the production assembly process compared to RV reducers and harmonic reducers, thus reducing production costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precision Planetary Reducer Disadvantages:<\/strong>Lower ratios, lower transmission accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Single-stage transmission is relatively low:<\/strong>The ratio of a single stage of a planetary gearhead is around 3-10, not exceeding 10. In a single stage planetary gearhead, the limited number of gears and the relatively small selection of tooth ratios limit the increase in ratio. Increasing the ratio by stacking stages increases the size and mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Lower transmission accuracy:<\/strong>Due to the meshing clearance between the planetary and sun gears, as well as the relative motion between the planetary gears, a certain accumulation of transmission errors may result, which is more pronounced in multi-stage configurations (the return clearance is usually 3-5 arc minutes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitive Landscape of Planetary Reducers Market<\/strong>
The precision planetary gearbox market is mainly dominated by Japanese and German brands, and the industry concentration is relatively decentralized:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 As for the global market, the global CR3 is about 35%, and the competition pattern of the head enterprises is relatively balanced. Among them, Japan's Newport has a market share of 13%, followed by Nucat and Wittenstein, both with a market share of 11%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 As for the domestic market, domestic CR3 is about 41%, which is more concentrated compared with the global market. Among them, the market share of Japan Xinbao is 20%, accounting for the highest proportion, Wittenstein accounts for about 12%, and Newcastle 9%. The position of CR3 in the domestic market is similar to that of the global market. China began to develop the application of planetary gearboxes from the 1960s, the earliest development time in the four major precision gearboxes, and relatively simple structure of the planetary gearboxes, technical design barriers are low, the domestic market share of independent brands is steadily increasing (such as Jiangsu Zhaowei, Zhuhai Gree Electric's gearbox business market share has been more than 5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.2 Structure of the RV gearbox<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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RV gearboxes are two-stage gearboxes consisting of a planetary gearbox stage + a cycloid gearbox rear stage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6First stage deceleration: the motor drives the center wheel to rotate, and the rotation of the center wheel drives the planetary wheel to rotate with it. Since the number of teeth of the center wheel is smaller than the number of teeth of the planetary wheel, the first stage of deceleration is formed (the transmission ratio is usually 3-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Second reduction stage: Each planetary wheel is connected to the respective crankshaft. The center wheel rotates the planetary wheels and thus the crankshaft at the same speed. The 2 cycloid wheels (RV gears) mounted on the eccentric part of the crankshaft via needle bearings have 1 tooth more than the RV gears in the needle tooth groove on the inside of the housing. When the crankshaft rotates by 1 revolution, the 2 balance wheels also undergo an eccentric movement (crankshaft movement). The balance wheels rotate by 1 tooth in the direction opposite to that of the crankshaft movement, thus reducing the speed (ratios up to 10-80 in one stage).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics of the RV Gearbox<\/strong>
RV gearboxes offer the advantages of high torque, high transmission ratios and high load carrying capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6High load capacity:<\/strong>The structure of the cycloid wheel in the low-speed stage of the RV reducer is 180\u00b0 symmetrically distributed, and the theoretical maximum number of teeth of the cycloid wheel and the pinwheel can be up to 1\/2 of the total number of teeth, so the load is evenly distributed to multiple contact points, which results in uniform stress on the cycloid wheel structure and improves the smoothness of the speed reducer drive and the load-bearing capacity of the speed reducer (which is 3 to 5 times greater than that of the harmonic speed reducer for the same volume).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6High transmission ratio:<\/strong>The RV reducer consists of two stages of reduction, and the overall ratio is the product of the ratios of the two stages, so it has a large ratio range (typically 50-320) and is capable of providing higher ratios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High torsional stiffness<\/strong>The output mechanism is the planetary carrier supported at both ends, and the output is made by the rigid large disk at the left end of the planetary carrier, which is bolted to the working mechanism, and its torsional rigidity is much larger than that of the output mechanism of general cycloid planetary reducer (torsional rigidity can be more than 1,000N\u30fbm\/arcmin).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disadvantages are their relatively large volume mass and their higher price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Larger volumetric mass:<\/strong>The RV gearbox is essentially a secondary speed reducer, and the high bulk mass of the cycloid itself results in a high overall bulk mass of the RV gearbox (an RV gearbox with an output torque of 100 Nm typically weighs more than 2 kg).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Higher prices:<\/strong>Its complex planetary + cycloid reduction structure makes it necessary to produce and assemble a large number of high-precision parts such as needle gears during the production process, making the overall cost higher (the unit price of domestic RV gearboxes is about 70% that of the imported products, but it is still higher than that of the same-torque planetary gearboxes by 30%-50%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RV Gearboxes market landscape:<\/strong>
The Japanese brand Nabtesco dominates the RV gearbox market. 1926 Lorenz Blanc of Germany proposed the needle-pendulum planetary drive, which was later introduced by Sumitomo and made possible by the development of the pendulum grinder. 1980 Teijin Seiki of Japan put forward the theory of the RV drive, and the RV gearbox was formally produced on a large scale in 1986. Nabtesco has been dominating the field because of its first-mover advantage. However, as local enterprises begin to enter the field of RV gearboxes, they are gradually replacing Nabtesco in low-end and low-load products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The market share of domestic independent brand RV decelerator enterprises is rapidly increasing. With the continuous accumulation of technology by local manufacturers and the continued strengthening of cooperation with domestic robot manufacturers, the market share of domestic independent RV gearbox enterprises has continued to increase in recent years. Among them, the domestic market share of Ring Drive Technology (the holding subsidiary of Shuanghuan Drive) has increased significantly, from 5.25% in 2020 to 18.89% in 2023, and has ranked second. The market share of Nabtesco continues to decrease, from 54.8% in 2020 to 40.17% in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.3 Structure of the harmonic reducer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Structure:<\/strong>Harmonic gear reducer is a kind of transmission device that generates controllable elastic deformation wave by wave generator and realizes motion and power transmission through its interaction with rigid wheel, and its structure mainly consists of three basic components: rigid gear (rigid wheel) with inner gear ring, flexible gear (flexible wheel) with outer gear ring, and wave generator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principle:<\/strong>When the harmonic reducer works, the motor drives the wave generator to rotate, the rigid wheel is fixed, and the flexure wheel serves as the output. The wave generator forces the flexure wheel to change from round to oval, and the teeth of the long axis end are fully meshed with the rigid wheel, while the short axis end is disengaged, and the rest of the teeth are in the transition state. With the continuous rotation of the wave generator, the deformation of the flexible wheel changes constantly, and the meshing state also changes, through the cycle of engaging, meshing, engaging, disengaging and then engaging, thus realizing the smooth rotation of the flexible wheel relative to the rigid wheel in the opposite direction of the wave generator (single-stage transmission ratio of up to 50-500).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics of harmonic reducer<\/strong>
Harmonic reducer has the advantages of high transmission accuracy, higher transmission ratio and small volume mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6High transmission accuracy:<\/strong>Because there are many teeth meshing at the same time in the harmonic transmission (up to 30%-50% of the total number of teeth), the error is averaged out, i.e., there is a mutual compensation effect of the multi-tooth meshing on the error, so the transmission accuracy is high (the return clearance can be controlled within 1 arc minute). In the case of the same gear precision level, the transmission error is only about 1\/4 of the ordinary cylindrical gear transmission. At the same time, the radius of the wave generator can be slightly changed to increase the deformation of the flexible wheel so that the backlash is very small, and even can be achieved without backlash meshing, so the transmission headroom is small, suitable for reverse rotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Higher transmission ratio:<\/strong>For every 180 degrees of rotation of the wave generator, only one tooth of the rigid wheel changes position due to partial contact between the flexible wheel and the rigid wheel, resulting in a decelerating effect and therefore a high ratio (a single stage is sufficient for most robotic joints).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Small volume mass:<\/strong>Harmonic reducer has fewer core components due to its special flexible wheel transmission structure, which can reduce the volume by 2\/3 and the weight by 1\/2 (the weight of harmonic reducer with an output torque of 10Nm can be controlled within 0.5kg) with the same output torque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disadvantages include their relatively low transmission efficiency, low torque, and short life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Lower transmission efficiency:<\/strong>Harmonic reducer in the transmission process due to the flexible wheel elastic deformation and meshing friction and other factors, will produce a certain amount of energy loss, resulting in relatively low transmission efficiency (single-stage transmission efficiency of about 70%-85%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Low torque:<\/strong>Harmonic reducers may face problems such as excessive flexure deformation or poor meshing when subjected to high torque, so the output torque is generally low (the maximum output torque of a single stage usually does not exceed 500Nm).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Shorter life span:<\/strong>The operating principle of a harmonic reducer relies on the elastic deformation of the flexure wheel, which leads to material fatigue and wear over a long period of time. Cushion wheels require repeated deformation at high speeds and are therefore fragile and susceptible to cracking or fracture in areas of stress concentration (life expectancy is typically 10,000 to 20,000 hours, which is lower than the 30,000 to 50,000 hours of RV gearboxes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitive Landscape of Harmonic Reducers Market<\/strong>
The competitive landscape of the Harmonic Reducer market is relatively centralized, by market:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Global Market: Top1 Harmonic occupies 82% market share, with a significant lead; Green's Harmonic's market share is 7%, ranked second, with a certain degree of competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Domestic market: CR3 accounts for about 72%, with high market concentration. Among them, the market share of CR3 Harmonic \/ Green Harmonic \/ Rifle Harmonic is 38%\/26%\/8% respectively, followed by Japan Xinbao and Tongchuan Technology with the share of 7%\/6% respectively. In the domestic market, the gap between Green Harmonic and Harmonic is not obvious (Green Harmonic's market share in the field of collaborative robots has exceeded 30%). 30%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.4 Structure of circumferential envelope worm gear reducer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Structure and Principles:<\/strong>Worm gear reducer consists of an annular worm gear (the tooth surface of the worm gear is a part of the annular surface) and a worm wheel, the core of which is based on the principle of \"conjugate meshing of the annular worm gear and the worm wheel\" transmission. The axis of the ring worm and worm wheel axis space interlacing (usually vertical interlacing), worm tooth surface by a plane or cylindrical surface in space around the worm axis movement envelope, worm wheel tooth surface is the conjugate surface of the worm tooth surface, the two mesh to form a continuous surface contact (rather than the line contact of the ordinary cylindrical worm). When working, the motor drives the worm gear to rotate, and through the tooth surface meshing drives the worm wheel to rotate, realizing the deceleration and torque increase (single-stage transmission ratio 10-1000, can be extended to a larger range through the combination of multi-stage).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics of ring-enveloped worm-gear speed reducers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compact size for space-constrained scenarios<\/strong>The ring worm can be designed as a \"hollow\" or \"short shaft\" structure, with a center distance of up to 4.5mm, and the overall volume is only 1\/2-1\/3 of the same torque planetary reducer, which is especially suitable for installation in narrow spaces such as the finger joints of the robot's dexterous hand (the diameter of a single finger space is usually less than 30mm). The overall volume is only 1\/2-1\/3 of the same torque planetary gearbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Smooth transmission and low noise:<\/strong>The surface contact meshing makes the load distribution between the teeth even, no shock vibration during transmission, and the noise can be controlled at less than 50 dB (lower than 60 dB of planetary reducer), which is suitable for the requirements of humanoid robot on the quietness of operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\uf0b7 Self-locking function for high safety: When the worm guide angle is less than the friction angle, the gearbox can realize reverse self-locking (the worm wheel can't drive the worm to rotate), so that the robot can maintain its attitude without continuous power supply when grasping objects, reducing energy consumption and enhancing safety redundancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Strong carrying capacity:<\/strong>The face contact characteristic increases the load carrying capacity by more than 100% compared with ordinary cylindrical worm gearboxes, and it has excellent shock resistance (short-term overload capacity up to 1.5 times of the rated torque).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Strong rigidity:<\/strong>Because the tooth surface is multi-tooth meshing, the impact resistance is stronger than other reducers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Natural 90\u00b0 drive<\/strong>Worm gears are inherently orthogonal, so the input and output axes are at right angles to each other, so they are more suitable for scenarios where commutation is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disadvantages are mainly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Slightly lower transmission efficiency:<\/strong>Transmission efficiency is approximately 75%-90%, which is lower than planetary gearboxes (97%-98%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Processing is difficult:<\/strong>The machining of the teeth of the ring worm requires a special CNC machine, and the worm wheel needs to be \"paired grinding\" with the worm to ensure the precision of meshing, which is a high process barrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Not suitable for 0\u00b0 drive:<\/strong>Because of its natural 90\u00b0 right angle drive, it is not suitable for 0\u00b0 drive scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market Landscape of Circumferential Envelope Worm Gear Reducers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the envelope reducer industry, most of the plane second envelope ring surface worm gear turbine reducer, and are large reducer, mainly used in metallurgy, mining, lifting and other industrial fields, the core of the plane second envelope ring surface worm gear technology, through the two envelope movement to form the meshing tooth surface: the first time to plane worm gear teeth envelope envelope worm helical surface, the second to worm helical surface back to wrap the worm gear tooth surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The micro-small reducer because of its processing difficulty, the world is only Shenzhen Taoshi intelligent processing. Domestic industrial development started late, but accelerated in recent years to catch up, such as Taoshi Intelligence has launched a series of products adapted to the robot dexterous hand (center distance of 4.5-10mm, the output torque of 1-6Nm), in the domestic head of a number of prototype robot to complete the validation of humanoid robot; with the dexterous hand of the robot on the volume and precision requirements to improve the domestic enterprises with the advantage of customized and responsive, is expected to quickly occupy the market share. market share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

03 Precision gearboxes in humanoid robots<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 According to the information disclosed in the Tesla AI DAY, the Tesla Optimus robot has a total of 40 joints in the whole body, of which 28 joints are distributed in the shoulders, elbows, waist and other parts of the body, and the 28 joints of the whole body use three kinds of rotary actuators and three kinds of linear actuators. The other 12 joints are concentrated in the dexterous hand, with 6 joints in each hand. Rotary actuators: three types of rotary actuators: 1) torque 20Nm, weight 0.55kg; 2) torque 11Nm, weight 1.62kg; 3) torque 180Nm, weight 2.26kg. The rotary actuators adopt the structure of frameless motor + harmonic reducer + position sensor + clutch + torque sensor. Dexterous hand joint: Multi-stage planetary gearbox connects the motor to the finger joints and is mounted inside the dexterous hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Zhiyuan Expedition A1: The whole body has 49 degrees of freedom, the hand has 17 degrees of freedom, and its joints are self-developed PowerFlow joints with planetary gearboxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Yutu G1: The whole body has up to 43 articulated motors, supporting up to 43 degrees of freedom, and adopts three-finger force control dexterity hand, and mainly adopts planetary reduction gear solution at the joints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6Ubiquitous Walker X: 41 degrees of freedom in the whole body, with harmonic reduction gears in key joints. At the same time, it has applied for several patents on harmonic and planetary gearboxes. With a transmission ratio of 50 and a weight of only 15g, it realizes an output torque of 2Nm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25c6 Fourier GR-1: Highly integrated design FSA actuator as joint drive, with patented harmonic and planetary gearbox joints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestic head robot manufacturers' gearbox patents are mainly focused on planetary and harmonic gearboxes .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the majority of robot manufacturers are testing and verifying the program of ring surface envelope worm gear structure reducer in the robot body and dexterous hand layout. Because most of the robot joints are 90\u00b0 drive, it is very suitable for worm gear structure, while the traditional worm gear is not suitable for robot joints due to low efficiency, low tensile strength, low precision, low life and other problems. But the ring surface envelope worm gear just solved these problems, and has a self-locking performance, without the need for power supply will allow the robot to stand for a long time, or to maintain the grasping position. It is expected to become the new favorite solution for robot manufacturers, replacing the integrated harmonic joint solution at the joint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

04Precision reducer traditional leading enterprises and cross-border layout players<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Intelligent cars and AI robotics technology is homologous, domestic auto parts companies scramble to layout humanoid robots, and the two industry chains may be highly overlapping. Tesla directly reused FSD and Autopilot technology to Optimus humanoid robot, showing that intelligent cars and robot software algorithms have homology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiaopeng, millet, BYD, GAC and other automobile OEMs have begun to invest in humanoid robot research and development, and auto parts companies (such as Top, three flowers, Beitel, Best, Haoneng, etc.) have also expanded the humanoid robot-related parts business. We believe that the future of automotive OEMs may become an important producer and end-user of humanoid robots (such as manufacturing scenarios), the automotive industry chain and the humanoid robot industry chain is expected to be highly overlapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auto zero enterprises have layout robot precision reducer track, manufacturing capacity and business resources advantage is obvious. According to public information, the auto zero enterprises that have officially announced their entry into the robot reducer include Haoneng Stock, Fuda Stock, Zhongding Stock, Fulin Precision Industry, and Silin Stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe that auto zero companies have excellent mass production manufacturing, quality control and cost control capabilities, from the automotive parts business to expand to the humanoid robot parts business logic is smoother. Moreover, auto zero enterprises and automobile OEMs have a strong cooperation binding relationship, with the major automobile OEMs into the humanoid robotics track, the layout of the robot precision reducer field of auto zero enterprises are expected to stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harmonic Gearbox: Global Leader in Harmonic Gearboxes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harmonic Drive was one of the first companies in the world to successfully commercialize harmonic gearboxes, specializing in the development and innovation of harmonic gearbox technology. Since the early 1950s, Harmonic Drive has embarked on a journey of steady growth and global expansion, starting with the debut of its HD products in the Japanese market. Through important milestones such as the successful entry of HDG into the Japanese market and the listing of HD in the U.S., the company has not only stabilized its local market, but has also opened the door to internationalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the process, Harmonic introduced a number of innovative products including AccuDrive, Mecantronics and Harmonic Drive Planetary, demonstrating strong technical strength and market insight. At the same time, through the deep cooperation with SAMICK ADM, Ome lron Casting Co. Ltd. and the establishment of several branches such as HDL, HIP, HDSys, etc., the company has further expanded its business areas and market share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major downstream application scenarios and customers of Harmonico: Harmonico's products are widely used in robotics, semiconductor equipment, panel manufacturing equipment, machine tools, optical instruments, testing equipment, automotive and other fields. Among them, industrial robots are the largest downstream application field, accounting for more than 501TP3 T. Its harmonic reducers occupy a market share of more than 701TP3 T in the global harmonic reducer market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harmonic reducer production capacity: Based on the company's public information, according to incomplete statistics, the company's existing industrial harmonic reducer production capacity of about 170,000 \/ month; vehicle harmonic reducer production capacity of about 90,000 \/ month, one of the line is expected to be transformed for humanoid robotics related products manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nabtesco: The world's leading manufacturer of RV gearboxes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nabtesco is a global leader in drive technology with deep roots and innovative capabilities. Nabtesco's core competence is in the development, manufacture, sales and service of precision gearboxes, especially RV gearboxes. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Japan, the company's main business is the manufacture of precision gearboxes, with a global market share of more than 80% in the field of RV gearboxes. The company's customers for its precision Nabtesco gearboxes mainly include industrial robots and machine tools, with industrial robotics customers covering the world's four largest families of robotics companies as well as various well-known robot manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nabtesco attaches great importance to technological research and development and has applied for a large number of patents on gearboxes. The company originated from Nabtesco and Toscotec before the merger. Since the merger, Nabtesco has responded to the trend of Japan's manufacturing products going overseas, strategically focusing on overseas expansion and production capacity construction, and continuously consolidating its dominant position in the industry. The company has emphasized its investment in research and development, and in the past five years has invested nearly 50 billion yen in R&D. The company has accumulated a wealth of technology and patents in its core products, such as next-generation precision gearboxes, automatic doors, and flight control systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green's Harmonic: A breakthrough for domestic harmonic reducers, laying out core products for precision rotary and linear motions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Company Profile: Green Harmonic was founded in 2011, the company is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the research and development, design, production and sales of precision transmission devices, products include harmonic reducer and precision parts, mechatronics products, intelligent automation equipment. The company's products are widely used in intelligent robots, CNC machine tools, medical equipment, semiconductor production equipment, new energy equipment and other high-end manufacturing fields. The company is the first to realize the industrialized production and large-scale application of harmonic reducer in China, breaking the monopoly of international brands in the field of harmonic reducer for domestic robots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grasp the opportunity of the development of the robot industry, layout of rotary and linear motion related components. The company focuses on the layout of harmonic reducer technology and products in precision rotary transmission; in the field of precision linear transmission the company is actively laying out electrostatic-hydraulic servo valves and reverse planetary roller screws and other products, which are suitable for large loads, high impact resistance, and high-frequency application scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Production capacity: The Company completed the house civil construction and related equipment procurement for the production expansion project with an annual production capacity of 500,000 units of precision gearboxes in 2023, and plans to complete the construction and debugging work of the related intelligent production lines and reach production within 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhongda Leader: Pioneer of Domestic Substitution of Precision Gearboxes, Expanding Mechatronics Integrated Products<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Company Profile: Founded in 1998, Zhongda Leader is a national high-tech enterprise integrating R&D, manufacturing, sales and service of motor drives, micro motors, precision gearheads, robot structure bodies and integrated intelligent actuators. Its core product line covers precision gearbox series, transmission planetary gearboxes and diversified small and micro gear motors. The company is deeply committed to the advanced manufacturing industry, which is strongly supported by the national industrial policy, and its products are widely used in industrial robots, intelligent logistics systems, new energy industry, high-end machine tools and other fields, as well as in food processing, packaging machinery, textile equipment, electronic equipment, medical equipment and other specialized machinery and equipment market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Layout of electromechanical integration products, is expected to benefit from the incremental demand for robots. In line with the development trend of industry integration and integrated innovation, the company has formed the integrated product structure of reducer+motor+drive around industrial automation and industrial robots, and launched modularized products such as \"precision planetary reducer+servo motor+drive\", \"RV reducer+servo motor+drive\", \"harmonic wave reducer+servo motor+drive\" and so on. We have launched modular products such as \"precision planetary gearbox + servo motor + drive\", \"RV gearbox + servo motor + drive\" and \"harmonic wave gearbox + servo motor + drive\", and realized the upgrading of product structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shuanghuan Drive: Global Gear Leader, Robot Reducer Business Helps Accelerate Company's Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Company Profile: Zhejiang Shuanghuan Transmission Machinery Co., Ltd (Stock Code: 002472.SZ) is a global professional gear manufacturing leader, China's leading manufacturer of robot reducers and China's leading manufacturer of new energy automobile gears, to \"change the pattern of self-sufficiency in the gear industry\" as its own responsibility, is committed to providing high-speed, low-noise, safe and low-carbon products for the global mechanical transmission system. We are committed to providing high-speed, low-noise, safe and low-carbon products for the global mechanical transmission system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main products: including passenger car gears, commercial vehicle gears, construction machinery gears, motorcycle gears and power tool gears, reducers and other products, mainly for the electric drive system of vehicles, gearboxes, axles, power tools, rail transportation, wind power and industrial robots and other applications. While focusing on the main business of gears, the company has also expanded its products in new fields such as intelligent actuators, industrial incremental\/reduction gears (with its subsidiary Huanao as the main body), and high precision reduction gears for robots (with its subsidiary HuanDongTechnology as the main implementation body).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ring Drive Technology: Ring Drive Technology specializes in the research, development, design and production of high-precision gearboxes, and is able to provide robotic solutions covering a load range of 3~1000Kg, including RV gearboxes, harmonic gearboxes, and mechatronic integrated joint modules, drive actuators, etc, to satisfy customers' needs in an all-round way.2023 September, the company issued a reminder announcement about the spin-off of its subsidiary, Ring Drive Technology, and the current spin-off plan is still in progress. The current spin-off plan is still in progress, even after the spin-off Shuanghuan Drive will still hold the controlling interest in Ring Drive Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taoshi Intelligence: Pioneer of Miniature Circumferential Envelope Worm Gear Reducers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Company Profile: Tao Shi Intelligent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. is a national high-tech enterprise, formerly known as \"Shenzhen Tao Precision Technology Co. The company is a Shenzhen Specialized Precision and Specialized New Enterprise, AAA Credit Enterprise, Innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. The company specializes in the research and development, production and sales of high-precision transmission components. After 8 years of research and development, the unique micro-ring surface envelope multi-tooth occlusion high-performance reducer is unique in the world of high-precision reducer field, and has won a number of national honors and a number of R & D patents. In addition to high-performance reducer, Tao Shi Intelligent Technology's all-drive dexterous hand joint module gives the whole hand 20 + degrees of freedom, single-handed grip as high as 25kg, single joint torque up to 3kg, the precision is controlled <\u00b10.015mm, showing the company's deep attainments in the manufacture of miniature high-precision products. At present, Tao Shi's miniature high-performance reducers are widely used in high-precision industrial automation, aerospace, military, AI artificial intelligence, medical equipment, humanoid robots, dexterous hands and other high-tech fields. With efficient and reliable transmission solutions, they provide strong support for various types of high-precision mechanical equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. The core function of the precision reducer is to reduce speed and increase torque, which is an indispensable device in the field of precision transmission. Reducer is a kind of power transmission device, is connected to the power source and the executive [...]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"themepark_post_bcolor":"#f5f5f5","themepark_post_width":"1022px","themepark_post_img":"","themepark_post_img_po":"left","themepark_post_img_re":false,"themepark_post_img_cover":false,"themepark_post_img_fixed":false,"themepark_post_hide_title":false,"themepark_post_main_b":"","themepark_post_main_p":100,"themepark_paddingblock":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,14,12,8,9,10],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-13","tag-14","tag-12","tag-8","tag-9","tag-10"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1752225058:1"],"views":["869"],"_edit_last":["1"],"ao_post_optimize":["a:6:{s:16:\"ao_post_optimize\";s:2:\"on\";s:19:\"ao_post_js_optimize\";s:2:\"on\";s:20:\"ao_post_css_optimize\";s:2:\"on\";s:12:\"ao_post_ccss\";s:2:\"on\";s:16:\"ao_post_lazyload\";s:2:\"on\";s:15:\"ao_post_preload\";s:0:\"\";}"],"catce":["sidebar-widgets4"],"_thumbnail_id":["1398"],"_trp_automatically_translated_slug_en_US":["\u4eba\u5f62\u673a\u5668\u4eba\u8d5b\u9053\u4e4b\u51cf\u901f\u673a\u7684\u6df1\u5ea6\u4ecb\u7ecd"]},"medium_url":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752220400187-300x225.png","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752220400187-150x150.png","full_url":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752220400187.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1417,"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions\/1417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tallsgear.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}