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Mikhail Polyakov

Timken Precision Drives and actuators for humanoid robots: what was announced and which questions to ask a motion component supplier

Level: IntermediateReading time: 4 min

Topics: Robots, Industry

A compact strain wave gear, a planetary gearbox and a round magnetic sensor on a metal table, with a blurred steel robot joint beside them

The short answer: Timken has brought four businesses together under the name Timken Precision Drives to offer developers of humanoid robots motion components: gearboxes, actuators and position sensors. The Robot Report piece contains no numerical actuator specifications, prices, customer names or test results. It does, however, contain a useful list of what to consider when choosing an actuator for a joint. Below: what is said, what is missing and how to use it.

What is said

There is one source: the piece in The Robot Report. The image credits on the page name Timken and Shutterstock for the first picture and Timken Precision Drives for the second. Judging by the text, the account is built on statements by the company itself ("Timken said", "Timken Precision Drives said"). It contains no independent assessment. I have not read the primary source (the company's own announcement).

  • Who this is. Timken Precision Drives is part of The Timken Co. The platform brings together Cone Drive, SPINEA, CGI Motion and Timken Encoders.
  • What each business contributes.
    • Cone Drive: strain wave gearing for cases that need compactness, high torque density and zero-backlash positioning.
    • SPINEA: cycloidal gearing and integrated actuators. TwinSpin gearboxes and DriveSpin servo actuators are offered where torsional stiffness, torque transmission and load capacity matter.
    • CGI Motion: precision planetary and micro gearboxes, custom design and manufacturing for compact mechanisms.
    • Timken Encoders: magnetic position sensors, absolute and incremental.
  • How the work is organised. According to the text, the conversation starts with the task: what motion is needed, what loads the component must withstand, what is lacking in the current design and what has to change. The answer may be a standard component, a modified design or a custom development that combines several technologies.
  • Where they will show it. The company plans to take part in the Humanoids Summit Silicon Valley exhibition on 1 and 2 December at the San Mateo County Event Center.

What the piece lacks

The text has no numerical values for torque, speed, mass, accuracy or service life of an actuator, no customer or robot names, no price, no delivery times and no test results. The only numbers in it are the exhibition dates. Statements that the platform "helps" customers solve their problems remain the company's claim.

What a buyer can take from it

The piece says that choosing an actuator for a humanoid means balancing torque, speed, stiffness, mass, positioning accuracy and available space. Each joint, according to the text, has its own requirements, so a solution that suits one joint may not suit another. Analysing the task early helps fit gearing, motors, bearings and position feedback into the allotted volume, and decide which gear ratio, load capacity, permissible deflection, duty cycle and service life are needed.

This can be turned into a list of questions for a conversation with any motion component supplier. Who does it: the buyer's engineer together with the supplier. How to check: ask the supplier for written values on every point and, where possible, agree with them on a test of a sample unit using an agreed method, rather than relying on the brochure alone.

  1. What torque (rotational force) and what speed does this joint need? And separately: what output torque does the supplier state in writing, under which operating conditions (continuous or short-term, at what speed), and how was that value verified? The gear ratio tells you how many times the speed changes, but part of the torque is lost inside the gearbox, so what you need to compare is the output torque against what the joint requires.
  2. What torsional stiffness is needed, that is, how strongly the component resists twisting under load, and what deflection is permissible, that is, how much it may bend?
  3. What is the mass of the component and how much space does it take?
  4. How accurately does it position, and is there backlash, that is, free play when the direction changes?
  5. What is the service life under your duty cycle (how often and with what load the component works), how was it measured and by whom?
  6. Which position sensor is in the component: absolute (knows its position right after power-on) or incremental (counts steps from a starting point)?
  7. What gear ratio (the number showing how many times the gearbox reduces rotational speed) and what load capacity are stated?

If the supplier cannot answer some of the questions, that is a reason to request a sample and measure it yourself. If there is no sample, treat the specifications as the supplier's claim.

Summary

Timken Precision Drives brings together Cone Drive, SPINEA, CGI Motion and Timken Encoders to supply actuators and components for humanoid robots and plans to appear at the Humanoids Summit in December. The piece is written mostly from the company's own statements and contains no numerical specifications. What is useful in it is the list of parameters that have to be agreed when choosing a joint actuator, and it is easy to turn that list into questions for a supplier.

See also another piece in this section: The new Atlas hand from Boston Dynamics.

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