Solismotor Neck Joint Motor Application Case: Enabling Flexible and Precise Head Movement for Humanoid Robots

As humanoid robots are increasingly used in intelligent services, exhibition guidance, research, education, and industrial collaboration, their heads must perform horizontal rotation and vertical tilting while working with cameras and sensors for facial recognition, visual tracking, and environmental perception. The performance of the neck joint motor therefore directly affects motion accuracy, response speed, and the overall interaction experience.

In this project, the customer needed a compact and lightweight neck drive system for a humanoid robot. Because the neck also had to accommodate a gearbox, encoder, wiring, and multiple sensors, the available space for the motor was extremely limited. The motor also needed to operate smoothly during frequent starts, stops, and direction changes while minimizing vibration and noise.

Based on the robot’s head weight, installation space, range of motion, and control requirements, Solismotor provided a brushless DC motor solution featuring high power density and low rotational inertia. Its compact design delivers stable power output within a restricted space. Combined with a high-precision position-feedback device and closed-loop control system, the motor enables precise control of speed, position, and direction.

To address potential vibration during low-speed operation, Solismotor further optimized the motor’s operating characteristics and control parameters, allowing the robot’s head to start, stop, and change direction more smoothly and naturally. Depending on the neck module design, the motor can also be integrated with a precision gearbox, braking device, and customized output shaft to support yaw, pitch, and roll in single- or multi-axis configurations.

After adopting the Solismotor neck joint motor, the robot was able to perform horizontal rotation, vertical tilting, and dynamic target tracking smoothly. Stable low-speed operation helped reduce camera shake, while rapid response improved the natural feel of voice interaction, facial recognition, and target-following movements.

The motor’s compact and lightweight construction also provided additional installation space for sensors, wiring, and control components, helping the customer optimize the neck structure and improve overall system integration.

This solution is suitable for humanoid robots, service robots, guide robots, companion robots, biomimetic robots, and robotic vision platforms. Solismotor will continue to develop compact, efficient, precise, and customizable motor solutions for a wide range of robotic joint applications.