Schaeffler unveils formed strain wave gear for humanoid robots, cutting production costs and material use
Schaeffler's new forming process for wave gears cuts production from minutes to seconds, lowering costs by over 25% and material use by over 75%.
- >25%
- >75%
- ~50%
- 2 million+
What Happened
Schaeffler is adding a formed strain wave gear to its humanoid robotics portfolio. Wave gears are key components of actuators, which account for about 50% of a humanoid robot's total cost. They provide precise, powerful motion in a compact space with high accuracy and stiffness, meeting key requirements of humanoid robot joints. The established manufacturing method is high-precision machining, which is time-consuming and capital-intensive and could become a bottleneck for scaling humanoid robots.
With its innovative forming technology, Schaeffler says it can produce wave gears far more efficiently: instead of cutting away material, high press forces shape each part within seconds, dropping production steps from minutes to seconds and creating the foundation for large-volume production. Production costs fall by more than 25% and material consumption by more than 75%. The formed gears achieve torque and efficiency comparable to conventionally machined parts, while offering high dimensional accuracy and improved process stability.
- Conventional: minutes; formed: seconds
- Conventional: baseline; formed: more than 25% lower
- Conventional: baseline; formed: more than 75% lower
“Schaeffler will take a leading role in the humanoid robotics market. By using humanoids along our global value chain, we know the requirements of this technology first-hand and can bring our expertise specifically into the development of key components. Combined with our decades of manufacturing competence and our automotive DNA, we create solutions designed for quality, cost-effectiveness, and sc”
Schaeffler has completed several validation tests and expects series production to start in 2027, initially in Germany and then expanding to other regions. The company has supplied more than two million formed wave gears to automotive markets worldwide in the past decade and is now transferring that manufacturing expertise to humanoid robotics.
Why this matters
Wave gears are key components of actuators, which account for about 50% of a humanoid robot's total cost. Today's machining method is slow and capital-intensive, a possible bottleneck for scaling humanoid robots. Schaeffler's forming technology reduces cost and material use, and series production is expected in 2027, potentially making humanoids cheaper and more widely available.
Terms in This Story
- Strain wave gear
- A compact gear mechanism that provides high precision and stiffness, often used in robot joints.
- Actuator
- A component that converts energy into motion; in robots, it drives joints and movements.
- Forming
- A manufacturing process that shapes metal using high pressure rather than cutting away material.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.