Development of the Bioinspired Tendon-Driven DexHand 021 with Proprioceptive Compliance Control
Jianbo Yuan, Haohua Zhu, Jing Dai, Sheng Yi
TL;DR
DexHand 021 presents a lightweight, tendon-driven dexterous hand with 19 DoFs realized through 12 active motors, featuring modular fingers and integrated sensing. It introduces self‑perceived compliant control by combining Gaussian Process torque estimation with admittance control, achieving significant torque reduction and safer manipulation during multi-object grasps. Experimental validation demonstrates high load capacity, millimeter-level positioning accuracy, precise force sensing, and successful replication of 33 GRASP postures, indicating strong potential for industrial manipulation and human–robot collaboration. The work contributes a practical, scalable pathway toward lightweight, intelligent dexterous hands with proprioceptive sensing and compliant control for manufacturing and automation tasks.
Abstract
The human hand plays a vital role in daily life and industrial applications, yet replicating its multifunctional capabilities-including motion, sensing, and coordinated manipulation with robotic systems remains a formidable challenge. Developing a dexterous robotic hand requires balancing human-like agility with engineering constraints such as complexity, size-to-weight ratio, durability, and force-sensing performance. This letter presents Dex-Hand 021, a high-performance, cable-driven five-finger robotic hand with 12 active and 7 passive degrees of freedom (DoFs), achieving 19 DoFs dexterity in a lightweight 1 kg design. We propose a proprioceptive force-sensing-based admittance control method to enhance manipulation. Experimental results demonstrate its superior performance: a single-finger load capacity exceeding 10 N, fingertip repeatability under 0.001 m, and force estimation errors below 0.2 N. Compared to PID control, joint torques in multi-object grasping are reduced by 31.19%, significantly improves force-sensing capability while preventing overload during collisions. The hand excels in both power and precision grasps, successfully executing 33 GRASP taxonomy motions and complex manipulation tasks. This work advances the design of lightweight, industrial-grade dexterous hands and enhances proprioceptive control, contributing to robotic manipulation and intelligent manufacturing.