Enhancing efficiency and accuracy of mechanical transmission: an empirical assessment using roller-gear pair

Robotic actuators often suffer from significant power losses during mechanical transmission, primarily arising from gear tooth meshing. These losses are amplified in systems with high gear ratios, resulting in reduced overall actuator efficiency. Additionally, traditional geared transmissions are prone to backlash, which adversely affects precision and controllability. Since gear friction and backlash are inversely related, it is difficult to optimize for both simultaneously. Roller-gear transmission offers a balanced solution by managing the trade-off between efficiency and backlash while maintaining efficiency comparable to conventional gear transmissions. In this paper, a theoretical framework of a single stage roller-gear pair is presented mainly for efficiency and backlash using different configurations of rollers and gears. Both theoretical and experimental findings demonstrate that the roller-gear mechanism demonstrates a balance between comparable efficiency with gear pair and substantially improved transmission accuracy.