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Strain Wave Gear Production in the Age of Humanoid Robots

Humanoid robots need precise strain wave gears in their joints, and building and inspecting those gears at scale will call for equally advanced production technology

“The time has come for robots,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang proclaimed at his company’s annual GPU Technology Conference in March 2026. “Everyone, pay attention. This could very well be the largest industry of all.”

The Near Future of Mechanical Drive for Humanoid Robots

AI has moved humanoid robots forward, but safety, reliability and cost in the actuator drivetrain still stand in the way of commercial deployment

Perceive, Understand & Perform

AICA and Schaeffler demonstrate the role Physical AI can play in the manufacturing environment

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Technical Articles

Root Interference

This excerpt from Gear Technology Solutions explains how oversized cutter blade edge radii cause root interference in bevel gears, and how to select correct radii to avoid noise, flank damage, and tooth fracture.

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Smart Alloying Eliminates Manufacturing Steps in Automotive Gears

20NiMo9-7 alloy achieves up to 48 percent higher fatigue strength than conventional carburizing steels in the as-carburized condition, eliminating the need for shot peening and grinding in automotive gear applications.

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Design Principles of Bevel Gears: Rationale for Zero Sum Profile Shifts and Generating Gear Choices

This article demonstrates why bevel gears are designed with a zero sum of profile shifts—showing that independent shifts merely replicate what a modified pressure angle already achieves—and explains the practical benefits of using conical generating gears for tooth profile crowning.

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Conjugate Bevel and Hypoid Gears

An excerpt from Gear Technology Solutions by Dr. Hermann J. Stadtfeld exploring the mathematics behind conjugate bevel and hypoid gears—from the fundamental laws of gearing and the conditions for perfect conjugacy to why real-world power transmissions require deliberate crowning rather than theoretically exact conjugate designs.

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Design

Due to near-net shape production, additive-manufactured (AM) gears have a high potential to decrease costs and increase resource efficiency. The decreasing product life cycles as well as the increasing individualization of components demand high flexibility in manufacturing processes

Grinding

For the transmissions of electric vehicles to develop the desired high torque under all driving conditions, a very large gear ratio is needed, which requires high speeds. And to ensure sufficient momentum at all speeds and enable the driver to accelerate without shifting gears, the electric drive must achieve up to 15,000 rpm, which is about three times that of a typical combustion engine. This puts a lot of strain on the rotor shaft. The manufacturers of rotor shafts are thus facing new challenges, such as the significantly lower shape and position tolerances and the need for greater machining precision.

Inspection

Zahnradfertigung OTT GmbH & Co. KG was the first company to install the new fully automatic CNC-controlled P 152 precision measuring center from Klingelnberg in its ultra-modern machine park.

Heat Treating

The roots of heat-treating run deep within ASM (American Society for Materials) International, as its society was founded in Detroit in 1913 as The Steel Treaters Club. The heat-treating constituency of ASM created the Heat Treating Society (HTS) to provide focused leadership, communications, and service development to its network of worldwide membership of captive and commercial heat treaters, equipment manufacturers, researchers, governments, and technicians. To discuss Heat Treat 2023, the 32nd annual HTS Conference and Exhibition, Gear
Technology took a moment to catch up with conference chair Andrew Banka, vice president of Airflow Sciences Corporation. Heat Treat 2023 is colocated with IMAT and Motion + Power Technology Expo in Detroit, October 17–19.

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Videos

If This Old Machine Can Be Automated, Yours Can Too

Productive Robotics sets the new standard for simplifying robotic automation. OB7 ensures simplicity in use and versatility, easy automation of existing production and new set-ups, increased output, consistency, and quality. It emphasizes teaching the robot rather than programming. Productive Robotics' OB7 collaborative robots are currently used in many diverse applications due to their simplicity, capability, and affordability.

Industry News

The countdown is officially on, and this one comes with a milestone attached. In just one year, the gear and bearing industries return to Detroit for the Motion + Power Technology Expo (MPT Expo), and 2027 marks the show’s 40th anniversary. It started in 1985 as Gear Expo, back when exhibitors worked out of tabletop displays rather than full booths. Four decades later, it’s still the one event where gear and bearing manufacturers, suppliers, and the OEMs who depend on them show up in the same room, at the same time.

Product News

 EcoCortec, the European subsidiary of Cortec Corporation, developed two certified compostable packaging films for heavy-duty industrial use: EcoShrink and EcoWrap. Manufactured at its facility in Croatia, these films serve as direct replacements for conventional polyethylene. They allow operations teams to maintain pallet load stability and meet environmental targets using their existing wrapping equipment and packaging workflows.

Calendar

AIoT World Expo

Feb 9, 2027 - Feb 11, 2027

The AIoT World Expo (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) explores the potential of intelligent machines, prescriptive analytics, sensor driven analytics and block chain solutions. Attendees learn about IoT technologies that are driving the transformation in manufacturing, supply chain and operations.

Additive Manufacturing Strategies 2027

Feb 23, 2027 - Feb 25, 2027

CES 2027

Jan 6, 2027 - Jan 9, 2027

PowerGen 2027

Jan 18, 2027 - Jan 21, 2027

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