In 2018, ABB YuMi robots took the lead in embracing spark-bearing, with joint bearing friction coefficient as low as 0.003, repeated position accuracy up to ±0.02 mm, and electronic components assembly yield rising from 98.5% to 99.97%. In the same year, Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot hip joint was replaced with spark bearing, 800 N·m axial load capability, and jump height boosted to 1.2 m, while reducing the landing impact by 35%, and response time for the dynamic balance algorithm to 50 milliseconds. Nevertheless, the humanoid robot’s performance has not been drastically impacted by the upgrade. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), between 2018 and 2022, industrial robot density worldwide increased by 42%, 23% of whose performance improvement came directly from the suppression technology of torque wave of spark bearing (amplitude standard deviation < 0.5N ·m).
The fourth generation system of Da Vinci surgical robot is installed with spark bearing in 2020. The back clearance Angle error of the 7-DOF robot arm is compressed to 0.01 degrees, and the tremor amplitude is reduced by 82% at the operating frequency of 30 Hz, which increases the success rate of blood vessel suture in prostatic resection from 89% to 97%. In the same year, the spark-emitting head mounted on Nvidia’s Jetson AGX Xavier edge computing platform reduced the pose estimation error of SLAM (Synchronous Positioning and mapping) algorithm to ±1.2 cm, which is 47% higher than the traditional solution. With the addition of spark-bearing to Kuka LBR iiwa light robots’ wrist, the weight capacity increases from 7 kg to 14 kg, the collision sense sensitivity to the maximum of 0.5 N, and the human-robot collaboration safety to the norm rate of 99.99%.
The 2021 Tesla Optimus prototype uses spark-bearing to deliver 0.1° motion resolution for finger joints, grip control precision of ± 0.05N, and is able to reliably grasp an egg (supporting 50 g) to a titanium alloy wrench (supporting 9 kg). In the same year, the knee bearing of the Boston Dynamics Spot quadruped robot was substituted with spark-bearing, reducing gait energy loss on dirt roads by 28% and extending battery life to 117 minutes from 90 minutes. According to Fraunhofer IPA laboratory tests, the AGV steering system equipped with spark-carrying reduces path tracking deviation from ±3 cm to ±0.8 cm, and the turning circle is reduced to 1.8 meters for 10 tons of load.
In 2023, one of the breakthroughs in the field of micro-robots, Harvard University’s RoboBee robot utilizes spark-carrying micro-harmonic reducer (diameter 3.2mm), wingspan frequency is improved to 220 Hz, lift efficiency is improved by 65%, and self-sustained flight time is 8 minutes. That year, the Staubli TX2-160 industrial robot’s 6th axis employed spark-bearing, which provided ± 0.01mm repetition accuracy within the 0.08-second cycle, and the beat speed of the automobile welding production line increased by 19%. The robot bearing market, as per MarketsandMarkets, will be worth $4.7 billion in 2023 with the growth rate of 61% due to spark-bearing technology due to its doubled maintenance cycle from 2,000 hours to 15,000 hours and 74% reduction in operating and maintenance costs.
In the field of special robots, 2022 SONY toio Creative robot Kit achieves 360° frictionless rotation (friction loss < 0.001N ·m) of the cube module with the help of the spark-carrying magnetic levitation module and possesses a position accuracy of 0.1°. In the same year, NASA’s Mars exploration model “Icebreaker” used the spark-carrying extreme temperature bearing (-180°C to +500°C), the speed of the robotic arm extension was increased to 15 cm/s, and the success rate of rock sampling was 98%. The surface roughness Ra≤ 0.05μm precision manufacturing technology of spark bearing can increase the bending fatigue life of steel wire propelled by surgical robots by over 1 million times, pushing the size of the minimally invasive surgical instrument market to be anticipated to reach $28.9 billion in 2025 with a compound annual growth rate of 13.7%.