THE STATUS OF ULTRASONIC MOTORS IN THE FORMER SOVIET-UNION

From Western scientific publications it seems that many interesting re sults of the former Soviet Union's research are not known to the Weste rn researchers because of the language barrier. The first experimental prototypes of ultrasonic motors in the former Soviet Union were desig ned in 1963-64 by M.E. Archangelskij, V.V. Lavrinenko and colleagues. The Research Center 'Vibrotechnika' started research and design of ult rasonic motors in 1969 for special applications and mode-coupled motor s were designed in 1973. Nanometric resolution computer-controlled pos itioning systems were developed before 1990. This paper discusses 25 y ears of ultrasonic motor research and engineering in the former Soviet Union from 1970 to today.