The clever gearbox trick that could make humanoid robots affordable by 2027
German engineering giant Schaeffler has cracked a manufacturing problem that has kept robot joints expensive and slow to produce. Its answer: stamp them out in seconds instead of machining them over minutes.
Key points
- Schaeffler Technologies AG completed validation testing of its formed strain wave gearboxes for humanoid robots in 2025 and plans mass production from 2027.
- The forming process cuts manufacturing costs by more than 25% and reduces material waste by more than 75% compared to traditional precision machining.
- Actuators, the motorised joints that bend a robot's limbs, account for roughly half the total cost of building a humanoid robot.
- Schaeffler has already shipped more than 2 million formed strain wave gearboxes to automotive customers over the past 10 years.
- Production will start in Germany before rolling out to other regions.
Humanoid robots look impressive on video. Actually building them at scale is a different problem, and one component keeps showing up as a serious obstacle: the gearbox inside each joint.
Schaeffler Technologies AG, the German engineering company best known for making bearings and drivetrain parts for cars, says it has a fix. As first reported by The Robot Report, the company has finished extensive testing of a new kind of joint component and plans to begin mass production in 2027.
What is a strain wave gearbox, and why does it matter?
A strain wave gearbox is a compact mechanical device, roughly the size of a hockey puck, that sits inside a robot's shoulder, elbow or knee and converts motor speed into precise, powerful movement. Think of it as the thing that lets a robot arm lift a box without wobbling.
These gearboxes are not cheap to make. The standard method, precision machining, involves cutting metal away with computer-controlled tools until the part reaches the exact shape needed. It works well, but it is slow and burns through both money and raw material. With demand for humanoid robots rising fast, that slowness threatens to become a serious production bottleneck.
Schaeffler's answer is a forming process. Instead of cutting metal away, enormous hydraulic presses squeeze a metal blank into the correct shape in a matter of seconds. No material is removed; it is simply pushed into place. The company says the finished part matches the performance of a traditionally machined gearbox while costing more than 25% less to produce and using more than 75% less raw material.
Why should anyone outside robotics care?
Cost matters most here. Actuators, the motorised joint assemblies that contain these gearboxes, make up roughly half the total bill for building a humanoid robot. Cheaper gearboxes mean cheaper robots. Cheaper robots mean more of them, sooner, doing warehouse work, factory assembly, and eventually tasks closer to home.
Schaeffler is not new to this technology. The company has delivered more than 2 million formed strain wave gearboxes to automotive customers across the world over the past decade, so the manufacturing knowledge already exists. Transferring it to humanoid robots is the next step.
| Factor | Traditional machining | Schaeffler forming process |
|---|---|---|
| Shaping time | Minutes per part | Seconds per part |
| Cost reduction | Baseline | More than 25% lower |
| Material saved | Baseline | More than 75% less waste |
| Mass production ready | Now (limited scale) | 2027 (high volume) |
"Schaeffler will take a leading role in the market for humanoid robots," said David Kehr, president of humanoid robotics at Schaeffler. "We can create solutions geared toward quality, economy, and scalability."
Production begins in Germany. Other regions follow after that. If the timeline holds, the inside of a humanoid robot in 2028 could owe more to a car-parts factory than to a high-tech laboratory.
