Four hexapods characterize, position and align the ELT primary mirror’s 931 segments, with 0.1 µrad resolution and stability over one hour — ensuring a seamless wavefront across the assembled mirror.

The hexapod supports and adjusts a radio telescope’s subreflector (M2) at high altitude — focus, decenter, tilt — with sub-micron resolution, despite wind, ice and thermal drift.

The hexapod positions a ground-based telescope’s secondary mirror (M2) — focus, centering, tilt — with 0.5 µm accuracy, continuously compensating gravity and thermal drift to keep the system focused and collimated.

The hexapod reproduces vehicle motion on the test bench — accelerations, tilts, dynamic loads — to qualify the engine’s endurance and robustness under real operating conditions.

The hexapod reproduces terrain-induced motion in the lab, sourced for instance from vehicle IMU recordings. Its high payload and high dynamics qualify remote-operated turret stabilization reproducibly.

The hexapod reproduces real-world motion (roll, pitch and yaw), a source of mispointing, to validate satellite tracking and link stability of the SATCOM antenna before deployment.

An inertial navigation unit can only be qualified in controlled motion. The hexapod generates reproducible trajectories while a measurement octopod monitors actual motion with high fidelity, qualifying the unit’s accuracy under on-board conditions before integration.

The Hexaglide positioner aligns the OMEGA laser target with a resolution of 1 µrad and a stability of 0.2 µm over 60 minutes, while supporting 230 kg under vacuum and withstanding neutron, X-ray, and gamma radiation.

At the core of the Laser MégaJoule, a 17-tonne experiment chamber receives 176 converging beams onto a micro-target, demanding flawless initial positioning. The hexapod adjusts the sphere with 0.05 mm resolution, then its very high stiffness holds it permanently in place once set.

On the construction site of an energy production unit, two-tonne machine-support slabs must be set to hundredth-of-a-millimeter accuracy. The hexapod handles their automated alignment to ± 0.01 mm in a self-contained, transportable system operated by a single person throughout the building.

The hexapod replays walking and running on an electrode-fitted phantom head at true human dynamics, isolating the motion artifacts that corrupt the EEG signal so they can be corrected.

To train a crew for failures and emergencies at no risk, nothing matches a control cabin that genuinely moves. The hexapod generates complex motion across ±45° in roll and pitch, carrying a 10-tonne cabin up to 8 meters high, driven in real time by external trajectory control (ERTT).

Before designing a tank, a propeller or an offshore wind float, you need to measure how the sea actually loads it. In the basin, the hexapod applies forces on the model across all six degrees of freedom to study the hydrodynamic effects of swell, sloshing and cavitation, with full reproducibility.

An optronic instrument or shipborne equipment must be qualified in the sea motion it will truly face. The hexapod faithfully reproduces swell across six degrees of freedom in the lab, delivering repeatable testing at far lower cost than sea trials, with outdoor, 360° C-axis and ATEX-certified options.

Testing a large mirror means orienting it through every configuration without ever losing the optical reference. Symétrie built a complete system combining a six-axis hexapod with an additional rotary axis, delivering the wide angular range required to qualify large-diameter optics.

On an optical test bench (OGSE), the hexapod itself serves as the position reference: its accuracy sets that of the entire measurement. Fitted with a linear stage and resolved to 0.1 µm, two identical clean-room-compatible hexapods align a satellite telescope’s optical paths.

To qualify the FLORIS hyperspectral spectrometer of the FLEX satellite, an optical component must be positioned in front of its thermal vacuum chamber with a large vertical stroke. A BREVA hexapod paired with a Z translation stage reaches ±175 mm of travel while keeping all six degrees of freedom, forming a seven-axis system for this OGSE.

The optical instrument of the MTG weather satellites is qualified with a hexapod as precise as it is stable, despite a rotation center offset by 450 mm and large travel (±75 mm, ±4°). Its entire metrology chain is made of Invar to ensure thermomechanical stability below 1 µm/m/°C under a 500 kg load, in an ISO5 clean room.

Calibrating optical components across several projects demands a versatile hexapod able to switch configurations without compromise. The ZONDA delivers this flexibility with high payload (400 kg), large travel and sub-50 nm resolution, all under secondary vacuum (10⁻⁶ mbar) and in an ISO5 clean room.

Adjusting a satellite’s secondary mirror during integration calls for micron precision in space-like conditions. This large hexapod positions the M2 across five degrees of freedom under secondary vacuum (10⁻⁶ mbar) and in an ISO5 clean room, with sub-micron resolution and high stiffness, under a 250 kg load.

A launched space instrument receives no maintenance: every defect must be eliminated on the ground. To qualify the James Webb telescope’s MIRIM infrared imager, the bench combines a manual Sonora hexapod carrying the cryostat with an electromechanical Breva hexapod aligning the optical source, at 1 µm positioning accuracy.

The hexapod positions a ground-based telescope’s secondary mirror (M2) — focus, centering, tilt — with 0.5 µm accuracy, continuously compensating gravity and thermal drift to keep the system focused and collimated.

A robotic mower must work on every slope and terrain, in all weather. The hexapod recreates virtual gardens in the factory through a continuous 360° rotation that simulates slopes, and its real-time control (ERTT, 200 Hz) closes the trajectory loop with the robot’s digital twin for fully reproducible tests.

On a high-repetition ultra-intense laser, a solid target or gas jet must be presented in the beam, under vacuum and with precision. This vacuum-compatible positioner (10⁻⁶ mbar) combines five axes, three linear and two rotary including one continuous rotation, for 100 mm of travel and 5 µm accuracy.

On a synchrotron beamline, orienting a sample through every angle demands a stiff, compact positioning system that fits the station’s space constraints. This five-axis goniometer tilts from 0 to 90° with translation accuracy below 2 µm and a 3D sphere of confusion under 20 µm.

In industrial robotics, engineers must currently choose between speed and accuracy: high accelerations degrade precision, while precise machines are too massive to be fast. A demonstrator for the ARROW research project, this hexapod breaks that deadlock by targeting both at once across a large workspace.

At the center of the Laser MégaJoule’s experiment chamber, the target must sit at the beams’ convergence point with micron precision, under vacuum and radiation. This high-precision system positions the target to within 1 µm in that extreme environment, a prerequisite for every successful fusion shot.

Trapping ions inside a 2-tesla magnet rules out any magnetic part nearby. This non-magnetic hexaglide, with ultrasonic motors and absolute encoders, positions an 80 kg vacuum chamber across six degrees of freedom to align the ions along the magnet’s axis, in an ultra-flat 155 mm-high footprint.

Les antennes compactes des satellites de télécommunication doivent être qualifiées en RF avant lancement, dans une grande étendue angulaire. Symétrie a réalisé un hexapode associé à une structure deux axes : la combinaison offre les amplitudes nécessaires pour orienter l’antenne tout en restant compatible RF.

Before launch, a space telescope is tested by interferometry under vacuum. The hexapod aligns a one-tonne large flat mirror across all six degrees of freedom, with a vertical-translation bracket to set it at optical-axis height, under secondary vacuum (10⁻⁶ mbar) and in an ISO5 clean room, to 0.1 µm.

A satellite gets no maintenance: its imager must be flawless. To qualify the MTG Lightning Imager under thermal vacuum, a ZONDA hexapod with an eight-axis XY table orients the instrument and cone-scans up to ±16° with a rotation center offset by 1000 mm, across four optical paths, in a clean room.

On an optical test bench (OGSE), the hexapod itself serves as the position reference: its accuracy sets that of the entire measurement. Fitted with a linear stage and resolved to 0.1 µm, two identical clean-room-compatible hexapods align a satellite telescope’s optical paths.

To qualify the FLORIS hyperspectral spectrometer of the FLEX satellite, an optical component must be positioned in front of its thermal vacuum chamber with a large vertical stroke. A BREVA hexapod paired with a Z translation stage reaches ±175 mm of travel while keeping all six degrees of freedom, forming a seven-axis system for this OGSE.

Testing a large optic means orienting it without shifting its center. This two-axis azimuth-elevation mount, or gimbal, keeps the elevation axis at the optical surface and the axes’ intersection at its center, to position a 1500 mm flat mirror under secondary vacuum, with 1 arcsec resolution.

The PLATO mission has 34 cameras to qualify under vacuum with extreme precision. Symétrie pairs a very-high-precision ZONDA hexapod with a two-axis gimbal structure: eight axes in total that characterize the telescopes’ focal plane while allowing wide angular ranges, driven by dedicated software.

The optical instrument of the MTG weather satellites is qualified with a hexapod as precise as it is stable, despite a rotation center offset by 450 mm and large travel (±75 mm, ±4°). Its entire metrology chain is made of Invar to ensure thermomechanical stability below 1 µm/m/°C under a 500 kg load, in an ISO5 clean room.

The mechanisms that reorient a satellite’s antennas don’t work under Earth gravity: in an anechoic chamber, the hexapod replaces them for RF testing. Compatible with the RF environment, it reconfigures the pivot point in software to test 1 to 6 antennas across different satellite models.

Calibrating optical components across several projects demands a versatile hexapod able to switch configurations without compromise. The ZONDA delivers this flexibility with high payload (400 kg), large travel and sub-50 nm resolution, all under secondary vacuum (10⁻⁶ mbar) and in an ISO5 clean room.

Adjusting a satellite’s secondary mirror during integration calls for micron precision in space-like conditions. This large hexapod positions the M2 across five degrees of freedom under secondary vacuum (10⁻⁶ mbar) and in an ISO5 clean room, with sub-micron resolution and high stiffness, under a 250 kg load.

A launched space instrument receives no maintenance: every defect must be eliminated on the ground. To qualify the James Webb telescope’s MIRIM infrared imager, the bench combines a manual Sonora hexapod carrying the cryostat with an electromechanical Breva hexapod aligning the optical source, at 1 µm positioning accuracy.

On the ESRF’s BM32 beamline, a CEA-CNRS team studies surface nanostructure growth under ultra-high vacuum. Symétrie replaced their twenty-year-old diffractometer: a BREVA hexapod adjusts the sample across six degrees of freedom in the beam, with a 20°/s detector arm and a 50 µm sphere of confusion.

On the ThomX X-ray source, monochromator, sample and detector must be positioned relative to one another with great versatility. Symétrie delivered a turnkey solution: two custom ZONDA hexapods and three air-bearing rotations on a granite base, for a 10 µm sphere of confusion.

SOLEIL’s beamline studies nanostructures by tender X-ray diffraction, including grazing incidence. Symétrie delivered a vacuum diffractometer (10⁻⁶ mbar) combining a BORA sample hexapod and four Huber circles, mounted on a large JORAN hexapod that pre-aligns the chamber.

On a beamline, the X-ray beam is as fine as a hair: the slightest misalignment compromises the measurement. Symétrie hexapods orient mirrors, samples and vacuum chambers across six degrees of freedom with sub-micron precision, and their high stability holds the position over time.