MM-Hand: A 21-DOF Multi-modal Modular Dexterous Robotic Hand with Remote Actuation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Zhuoheng, Lin, Qingquan, Yu, Checheng, Chen, Qiangyu, Lan, Zhiqian, Zhang, Lutong, Li, Hongyang, Luo, Ping
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Li, Zhuoheng
Lin, Qingquan
Yu, Checheng
Chen, Qiangyu
Lan, Zhiqian
Zhang, Lutong
Li, Hongyang
Luo, Ping
author_facet Li, Zhuoheng
Lin, Qingquan
Yu, Checheng
Chen, Qiangyu
Lan, Zhiqian
Zhang, Lutong
Li, Hongyang
Luo, Ping
contents High-DOF dexterous hands require compact actuation, rich sensing, and reliable thermal behavior, but conventional designs often occupy valuable in-hand space, increase end-effector mass, and suffer from heat accumulation near the hand. Remote tendon-driven actuation offers an alternative by relocating motors to the robot base or an external motor hub, thereby freeing the fingers and palm for additional degrees of freedom, sensing modules, and maintainable mechanical structures. This paper presents MM-Hand, a 21-DOF Multimodal Modular dexterous hand based on remote tendon-driven actuation. The hand integrates spring-return tendon-driven fingers, modular 3D-printed finger and palm structures, quick tendon connectors for maintenance, and a multimodal sensing system including joint angle sensors, tactile sensors, motor-side feedback, and in-palm stereo vision. We further analyze tendon-sheath length variation and friction loss to guide the design of the routing, motor hub, and closed-loop joint control. Experiments validate the transmission, output force, sensing, and control capability of the system. The fingertip force reaches 25N under a 1m remote sheath transmission, demonstrating practical load capacity despite long-distance tendon routing. Closed-loop joint-level experiments further evaluate command tracking with a static arm and during arm motion. These results show that MM-Hand provides a lightweight, sensor-rich, and maintainable hardware platform for dexterous manipulation research. To support the community, all hardware designs and software frameworks are made fully open-source at https://mmlab.hk/research/MM-Hand.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_17245
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle MM-Hand: A 21-DOF Multi-modal Modular Dexterous Robotic Hand with Remote Actuation
Li, Zhuoheng
Lin, Qingquan
Yu, Checheng
Chen, Qiangyu
Lan, Zhiqian
Zhang, Lutong
Li, Hongyang
Luo, Ping
Robotics
High-DOF dexterous hands require compact actuation, rich sensing, and reliable thermal behavior, but conventional designs often occupy valuable in-hand space, increase end-effector mass, and suffer from heat accumulation near the hand. Remote tendon-driven actuation offers an alternative by relocating motors to the robot base or an external motor hub, thereby freeing the fingers and palm for additional degrees of freedom, sensing modules, and maintainable mechanical structures. This paper presents MM-Hand, a 21-DOF Multimodal Modular dexterous hand based on remote tendon-driven actuation. The hand integrates spring-return tendon-driven fingers, modular 3D-printed finger and palm structures, quick tendon connectors for maintenance, and a multimodal sensing system including joint angle sensors, tactile sensors, motor-side feedback, and in-palm stereo vision. We further analyze tendon-sheath length variation and friction loss to guide the design of the routing, motor hub, and closed-loop joint control. Experiments validate the transmission, output force, sensing, and control capability of the system. The fingertip force reaches 25N under a 1m remote sheath transmission, demonstrating practical load capacity despite long-distance tendon routing. Closed-loop joint-level experiments further evaluate command tracking with a static arm and during arm motion. These results show that MM-Hand provides a lightweight, sensor-rich, and maintainable hardware platform for dexterous manipulation research. To support the community, all hardware designs and software frameworks are made fully open-source at https://mmlab.hk/research/MM-Hand.
title MM-Hand: A 21-DOF Multi-modal Modular Dexterous Robotic Hand with Remote Actuation
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17245