The development history of the harmonic gear drive (HD) in several countries were briefly introduced. The main advantages and shortages of the HD and its application in military and civil fields were introduced. By contrasting the domestic development present state of the HD with the foreign’s
the primary gap between the domestic HD productions and the foreign HD productions was pointed out. At last
the problems in the HD research that need to be resolved urgently were brought forward. Then
the development trend of the HD in the future was presented.