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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Design and Implementation of a Bespoke Robotic Manipulator for Extra-corporeal Ultrasound
Published on: January 7, 2019
Design and implementation of spherical ultrasonic motor
Tomoaki Mashimo1, Shigeki Toyama, Hiroshi Ishida
1Robot Inst, Carnegie Mellon Univ, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. tmashimo@cs.cmu.edu
Abstract:
We present a mechanical design and implementation of spherical ultrasonic motor (SUSM) that is an actuator with multiple rotational degrees of freedom (multi-DOF). The motor is constructed of 3 annular stators and a spherical rotor and is much smaller and simpler than conventional multi-DOF mechanisms such as gimbals using servomotors. We designed a novel SUSM using experimental data from a single annular stator and a finite element method. The SUSM using a spherical rotor of diameter 20 mm without any reduction gear has demonstrated advantages of high responsiveness, good accuracy, and high torque at low speed. The dynamic implementation of SUSM was consistent with the driving model of SUSM based on a friction drive.
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