Harmonic Drive LLC

Harmonic Drive LLC engineers and manufactures precision servo actuators, gearheads and gear component sets. We work closely with both Fortune 500 and companies of all sizes to understand their application requirements and provide a standard or, in most cases, a custom-engineered solution to enable the success of their design project. Since the beginning, our engineering and production teams have continued to develop enabling technologies and products for the evolving motion control market. Our dedicated, full-service engineering department truly partners with our customers. We love challenges, and work to provide realistic, timely solutions. Experienced application engineers with expertise in motion control are available to assist you with your concept and detailed designs. Our design service is provided free of charge in most cases. We love what we do and are eager to share our knowledge and passion with our customers.

Harmonic Drive products are customizable. Our design engineers are tenacious when it comes to providing the absolute best possible solution for your specific project. We pride ourselves on delivering cost-effective, high precision solutions.

The majority of the products sold by Harmonic Drive LLC are proudly made at our manufacturing facility in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA. Harmonic Drive Group Companies in Japan (Harmonic Drive Systems, Inc.) and Germany (Harmonic Drive SE) provide additional products. We have shared core values, product designs and quality standards. State of the art manufacturing facilities in the US, Japan and Germany enables us to locally serve the needs of our global customers.

APPLICATIONS for Harmonic Drive products:
• Robotics: Industrial, Semiconductor & Flat Panel, Humanoid, Mobile Robots
• Medical: Surgical Robots, Medical Imaging, Therapeutic, Prosthetics, Exoskeletons, Lab Automation
• Defense: Unmanned Vehicles, Remote Weapon Stations, Antenna Pointing
• Aerospace: Solar Array Drives, Antenna Pointing, Valve Actuators, Lunar and Interplanetary Rovers
• Machine Tool: Milling Head, Tool Changer, Rotary Table, Grinding, B & C Axis

KEY PERFORMANCE features for Harmonic Drive servo actuators, gearheads and component sets:
• True Zero Backlash
• Excellent positional accuracy and repeatability
• High Torque-to-Weight and Torque-to-Volume ratios
• Compact size
• High Reliability
• Single stage high reduction ratio

Servo Actuators
Harmonic Drive designs and manufactures all key components of our actuators including the motor, encoder, gearing and cross-roller output bearing. Because these components are designed to be an optimum performance match, our actuators have extremely high torque-to weight ratio and torque-to-volume ratios.

Gearheads
True Zero Backlash precision gears units and gearheads are available in a variety of sizes, ratios and configurations including Hollow Shaft versions which allow cables or shafts to pass through the center of rotation. Our Lightweight Gear Units provide outstanding Torque-to-Weight ratios while delivering zero backlash and positioning accuracy better than 1 arc-minute.

Harmonic Planetary® Gearhead
The Harmonic Planetary gearhead is a revolutionary design in planetary gearheads thanks to our innovative ring gear that automatically adjusts for backlash, ensuring consistent, low backlash for the life of the gear. This ring gear provides continuous elimination of backlash without the need for any adjustment.

Component Sets
A component set is the basic mechanism of a Harmonic Drive precision strain wave gear. These zero backlash products provide maximum versatility for the design engineer offering optimum dimension and performance based on the available volume within the customer-designed housing.

With over 50 years of experience, our expert engineering and production teams develop enabling technologies and products to meet the needs of an evolving motion control market. We are very proud of our outstanding company history. Our high-precision, zero-backlash Harmonic Drive® strain wave gears and Harmonic Planetary® gears have, and continue to play critical roles in robotics, spaceflight applications, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, factory automation equipment, medical diagnostics and surgical robotics.