Faulhaber

Thumb-sized motors that move a robot's fingers

Faulhaber is a German group with a network of representatives in more than 30 countries, specializing in miniature and micro precision drives. Its range covers five categories: motors (DC, brushless DC, linear, stepper and with integrated electronics), precision gearheads, linear actuators, encoders and drive electronics. The company cites 139 motor series, from micro motors with a diameter of a fraction of a millimeter to designs above 40 mm. It builds no robots; its website points to humanoid robotics and robot hands, where precision of movement is needed.

What the datasheet says

The example 2214 BXT H series is a flat brushless motor with an external rotor. The July 2026 datasheet gives three voltage versions: 6, 12 and 24 V. Power is 6 W, rated torque about 9.7 mN·m, mass just 28.9 g, speed up to 10,000 rpm, 7 pole pairs, Hall sensors and NdFeB magnets. Starting torque reaches 29 mN·m and maximum efficiency is 69–74 percent. The temperature range is −40 to +100 °C. Our materials also include datasheets of other series: 1319 SR, 1717 SR, 2232 BX4, 3242 BX4 and 3268 BX4, as well as technical-information volumes on DC and brushless motors and gearheads.

This illustrates the difference in scale from the joint drives of CubeMars or Harmonic Drive. Faulhaber works in millinewton-meters, not newton-meters, and its motors go into grippers, small laboratory manipulators and medical devices. The rules for reading such parameters are in “How to Read a Robot Datasheet”.

Why miniatures matter

The hand of a humanoid robot has a dozen or so degrees of freedom (see “Degrees of Freedom (DOF) in Humanoid Robots”) packed into the volume of a human hand, so each finger needs its own tiny drive. This is one of the most expensive and difficult parts of the design, as “Actuators in Humanoid Robots” explains. Motors of the Faulhaber type also go into precision grippers like those from Robotiq and OnRobot, and into touch sensors developed by, among others, Xela Robotics. We do not claim that any specific robot in our catalog uses Faulhaber motors, because manufacturers rarely disclose parts lists; this applies both to humanoid robots and to educational robots.

Faulhaber in Poland

Since 1 November 2016 the distribution of all products has been handled by FAULHABER Polska Sp. z o.o., headquartered in Poznań with a sales office near Katowice. For domestic designers that is a rare case of a local branch of a component maker, which shortens the path from inquiry to sample. Typical uses in the country are laboratories and hospitals (medical equipment), as well as robot prototypes at a university.