Compare · Moog

Same mechanism.
Different scale.

Moog and the PDK build the same thing: a six-degree-of-freedom Stewart-Gough hexapod, six actuated legs producing six axes. Everything that differs, differs because of scale — and scale is not a quality judgement, it is a specification.

What is the same ›Side by side ›Which one you want ›

What is the same

The geometry is
not in dispute.

Both machines are parallel-kinematic hexapods, and both are electric rather than hydraulic. Moog is the incumbent in this architecture, with decades of aerospace, defence and automotive programmes behind it. That history is real and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. What follows is about where a single-seat instrument and a full-cabin motion system stop being comparable.

Side by side

Where the two genuinely diverge.

Moog electric motion base and ARK PDK compared on published specifications
	Moog	ARK PDK
Architecture	6-DOF Stewart-Gough electric motion base	6-DOF Stewart-Gough, direct drive
Actuation	Six electro-mechanical linear actuators with brushless servo motors, per Moog's datasheet	Six direct-drive BLDC motors, no transmission
Static load	Carried by the actuators	Carried pneumatically, patent CA 3217174 C
Payload	1,500 kg on the MB-E-6DOF/12/1500KG; the line scales far beyond	Up to 250 kg
Control disclosure	Not published as a single figure	8 kHz drive loop · 3.3 kHz IK · 1 kHz commands — all internal
Transport delay	Not published	Under 1 ms — command issued to actuator moving; end-to-end path published on /technology/latency/
Interface	Supplied as a complete system; configuration on enquiry	Open — six-axis pose over UDP, no vendor layer
Price	Not publicly listed	$4,899.99 PDK · $6,299.99 PDK Racer · $8,499.99 Ecosystem

Figures in the other column are read from the manufacturer's published material, with source and retrieval date. Manufacturers revise specifications — if one here is out of date, tell us and it gets corrected.

Sources: Moog — Motion Systems, www.moog.com, retrieved 2026-09-13.

Which one you want

These are not competing for the same buyer.

Choose Moog

You need full-cabin payload, a turnkey system with a supported controller and software stack, a supplier with decades of programme history, and procurement that expects all of that. None of which the PDK offers.

Choose the PDK

You need a six-axis instrument at desk scale, an open interface with your own cueing in your own stack, a published price, and a unit you can put in a laboratory rather than a facility.

Transport delay

Moog publishes no transport-delay figure. Ours is under 1 ms, command issued to actuator moving, with that boundary stated and the end-to-end path published separately on /technology/latency/. On that row we show our number and its boundary, and read nothing more into the blank than it says.

Why ›

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