日本通商产业省的机械技术研究所成功地研制出世界上最小车床———微型数控车床。该车床只有手掌大小。此次开发的关键在于改进了压电调节器的驱动方式 ,使之可以平滑地进行控制操作 ,同时还装配检测滑块位移的微型线性编码器 ,使其动作控制可以象普通机床那样进行数字化编程 Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry Machinery Technology Institute successfully developed the world’s smallest lathe --- CNC lathe. The lathe is only palm size. The key to this development lies in improving the driving mode of the piezoelectric actuator so that the control operation can be carried out smoothly. At the same time, a miniature linear encoder for detecting the displacement of the slider is also mounted so that the motion control can be digitally programmed like a normal machine tool