Harmonic Drive vs Planetary Reducer: A Practical Guide to Transmission Selection for Robot Joints

The guide compares harmonic drives and planetary reducers for robot joint transmission selection.

Harmonic drives favor high precision, low backlash, and compactness; planetary reducers offer better efficiency, durability, and cost.

The best choice depends on torque, stiffness, heat, load profile, and required joint accuracy.

It also covers hybrid architectures and how transmission choice affects control design and ROS2/ros2_control integration.