Designing long-travel axes: When rack and pinion outperforms ball screws and linear motors

Original report: The Robot Report · Published Sep 17, 2026

An educational rack-and-pinion exhibit shows how rotation becomes straight-line motion. Image: Aliva Sahoo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 942 × 1200 · Resized and optimized for web

RobotMe summary

This engineering explainer compares rack-and-pinion drives, ball screws and linear motors for long travel distances. It describes how each converts power into straight-line motion and why the right choice depends on the application.

Ball screws can offer strong precision over shorter distances, but long rotating screws can encounter vibration and whip. Rack sections can be joined to extend travel, making rack-and-pinion systems useful for large machines and additional robot axes. The article does not present one mechanism as best for every design; travel length, precision, layout and operating conditions all influence the trade-off.

This is RobotMe’s source-checked summary, not a reproduction of the full article.

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