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The Harmonic Drive® , with its wide range of advantages, including compact design, reduced weight and excellent accuracy, is now established in a wide range of applications. Typical applications include industrial robots where high reliability is required, medical equipment, optical machines, printing machines and oil-drilling rigs, as well as in such cutting-edge fields of science as Mars exploration and astronomy. Humanoid robot [ASIMO] Harmonic Drive® products are utilized in the "arms" and "legs" of robots. It is believed that the next-generation robots will possess functions that closely resemble those of human beings. Photo : Courtesy of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. NASA'S Mars Exploration Rover NASA ’s OPPORTUNITY and SPIRIT, mankind’s first Mars Exploration Rovers, utilize 19 Harmonic Drive Gear units. They are found in the Robot Arms, Steering System, Gimbals and Drive Mechanism. Rover image created by Dan Mass, copyrighted to Cornell and provided courtesy NASA/ JPL-Caltech. UT/HDS HAND This Robot Finger unit, paired with an ultra-high-speed vision sensor, can catch a ball dropping at a speed of 4m/sec. It snares the ball so quickly (less than 0.01 sec.) the human eye is unable to catch the action. Micro-size Harmonic Drive actuators are used in every one of its joints. Photo : Courtesy of Ishikawa / Namiki Laboratory, the University of Tokyo Graduate School Satellites Harmonic Drives are also in great demand for use in solar array drive applications to ensure accurate positioning and attitude control. A vast wealth of technical expertise has been developed to supply Harmonic Drive® to applications in spacecraft in environments where the ability to withstand extremely harsh conditions and long service life are essential. Photo : Courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Semiconductor wafer transport robot "AccuDrive®" is employed in semi-conductor wafer transport robots in clean rooms. This application utilizes the Harmonic Drive's compact configuration, high precision, high rigidity, smooth movement, and long service life. Photo : Courtesy of Daihen Co., Ltd. Neurosurgical system The most accurate movement possible is the foremost requirement of surgical systems. Various Harmonic Drive® gears employed in such systems ensure positioning control of unmatched precision. Photo : Courtesy of Carl Zeiss Measurement system for landing flaps The German-French-British joint venture Airbus uses an array of Harmonic Drives to measure the position of the flaps during the landing procedure. Photo : Courtesy of Airbus Optical-infrared telescope "Subaru" installed on Mt. Mauna Kea in Hawaii A total of 264 Harmonic Drives and AccuDrives actuators are built into the structure of the telescope's mirror section so that surface imperfections of the primary mirror, the heart of the telescope with an effective aperture of 8.2 meters, can be maintained within a tolerance of 0.1μm. This astronomical telescope probes deep space 15 billion light years away in a mission to unlock the mysteries of the origins of the universe. Photo : Courtesy of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Japan, National Institutes of Natural Sciences