Harmonic Drive

Gantry Robot Hand Axes

Hollow shaft
Input shaft
Integrated output bearing

Zoom

The hand axes of gantry robots must be compact and light to reduce the load on the linear axes and so optimise the dynamic performance of the robot. 

In order to reduce the weight of the hand axes the motors are usually located outside the hand assembly. The motor torque is transmitted to the hand via parallel shafts inside the vertical axis assembly of the robot. This design example incorporates both HFUS-2UH (hollow input shaft) and HFUS-2UJ (solid input shaft) units. 

The first hand axis is driven via a spur gear arrangement. The second hand axis is driven via a bevel gear arrangement. The drive shaft for this axis passes through the hollow-shaft of the HFUS-2UH unit.

The second axis gear features an ISO output flange, which allows easy connection to a variety of grippers and tools. This design example shows that both flanges of the HFUS units can be used as fixed element or output element. The first axis gear uses the flange attached to the Flexspline as output element, while the second axis gear uses the flange connected to the Circular Spline as output flange.