A Message from the Head of R&D

A decidedly unconventional speed reducer

Our company's main product, the strain-wave gearing device marketed as the HarmonicDrive® , is a speed reducer that from an engineering standpoint appears initially to defy conventional wisdom. Instead of a uniform shape, both the metal gears and the ball bearing spline are elliptical. The result is a simple structure that achieves a large speed reduction ratio. While the invention and commercialization took place in the United States, this device really blossomed forth as a speed reducer for motion control after the technology was introduced in Japan.

Practical application and further advances in response to customer needs

How did the HarmonicDrive® become what it is today? I believe it is because here in Japan, we became infatuated with the technology, turning the unconventional into the conventional by means of superior design and manufacturing advances. Moreover, it is the result of the hard efforts by numerous customers toward its practical application. I think it can even be said that our customers, by setting such a high bar for manufacturing requirements and problem-solving, have fostered the growth of these products and of us as a company.
Our aim going forward is to continue making it possible for customers to come to us with their demands, and to meet those needs not only with our products but with the underlying technologies, as the HDS Group itself advances constantly.

Yoshihide Kiyosawa
Director, Executive Officer (Engineering and R&D)

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