Kinematics Analysis and Design Considerations of the Gear Bearing Drive

The development of high performance and efficient power trains is necessary to meet the radical design requirements of demanding next generation robotic systems, particularly in human centered applications where weight, efficiency and compact forms are decisive for the application functionality (e.g., powered portable bionics; humanoid manipulators; robotic rehabilitative devices for restoring human motor functions; and systems for robot-therapist collaboration during patient care). Such robotic applications require a new breed of actuators that have compact, reconfigurable hardware and inherent mechanical compatibility and adaptability to human-robot interaction applications. Existing power trains for this class of actuators have been dominated by the Harmonic Drives, offering compact mechanisms with high-speed reductions. However, problems in its non-linear dynamics and structural strength have limited their use to very specific applications in robotics.