Experimental Comparison of Pinwheel and Non-Pinwheel Designs of 3D-Printed Cycloidal Gearing for Robotics

Recent trends in robotic actuation have high- lighted the need for low cost, high performance, and effi- cient gearing. We present an experimental study comparing pinwheel and non-pinwheel designs of cycloidal gearing. The open source designs are 3D-printable, combined with off-the- shelf components, achieving a high performance-to-cost ratio. Extensive experimental data is presented, that compares two prototypes on run-in behaviour and a number of quantita- tive metrics including transmission error, play, friction, and stiffness. Furthermore, we assess overall actuator performance through position control experiments, and a 10-hour endurance test. The results show strong performance characteristics, and crucially, suggest that non-pinwheel designs of cycloidal gearing can be a lower complexity and cost alternative to classical pinwheel designs, while offering similar performance.