Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

Thanks to the quality reducers developed by the Zhuhai-based Sima Transmission Machinery, Chinese robots can now finally have flexible joints without the heavy need of foreign made key components.

The announcement was made during the granting of the Outstanding Contribution Award for Key Components for Guangdong Robots award by the Guangdong Robotic Association in December last year.

This is not the first time the Sino-foreign joint venture has found itself within domestic robotic industry's spotlight, as Sima Transmission Machinery was also one of the few traditional machinery companies to dedicate itself to the development of core robotic components four years ago. Before that, the firm had been designing and manufacturing concrete mixers and a variety of other machinery since its conception in 2008.

The R&D of speed reducers over the past 10 years has provided sound experience for developing more difficult precision elements that can be applied in industrial robots.

Tests of robotic components carried out at Sima Transmission Machinery in Zhuhai [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

Reducers are one of four key core robots that make up a robot and they don’t come cheap, making up 35% of the total cost of a robotic unit. Most of them were also were foreign made, since at the time approximately 75 percent of the global reducer market share was controlled by two Nabtesco and Harmonic Drive, two Japanese firms. Therefore, Sima Transmission Machinery since then have focused on creating locally produced Reducers.

Reducers must be made with the utmost precision, due to the little leeway allowed within its 26 to 32 parts. A deviation of no more than three-thousandths of a mm is allowed for each part; while overall the component should be precise to the one sixtieth of a degree, according to Ding Jun, the deputy secretary of the National Technical Committee for Standardization of Reducers.

Sima Transmission Machinery's first reducer prototype in mid-2016 was the culmination of structural design innovations combined with advanced production and processing equipment.

Not only are all six types of RV gear reducers produced by Sima compliant with the standards of equivalent Japanese made ones, they are also cheaper by 1/3 of the price.

The company has also taken an active part in the forming of a national industrial and technical standard. These standards will aim to help regulate the future industry of reducers and furthermore will also promote sustainable industrial development within the context of the Made in China 2025 national plan.