>“Mass producing strain wave gears using BMGs may have a major impact on the consumer robotics market,” Hofmann said. “This is especially true for humanoid robo

>“Mass producing strain wave gears using BMGs may have a major impact on the consumer robotics market,” Hofmann said. “This is especially true for humanoid robots, where gears in the joints can be very expensive but are required to prevent shaking arms. The performance at low temperatures for JPL spacecraft and rovers seems to be a happy added benefit.” Highly unlikely. Teflon (PTFE) can be injection moulded and is self lubricating and probably cheaper although it still costs and arm and a nut. Also the flex spline is one of the cheapest parts of a harmonic drive- the elliptical bearing is more expensive. There are also other reasons not to use harmonic drives. Their efficiency usually isn't as good as advertized and is often worse than other gearsets.