# A Compliant, Underactuated Hand for Robust Manipulation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.4394 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1301.4394/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Jan 2013.

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Dexterity from Touch: Self-Supervised Pre-Training of Tactile Representations with Robotic Play](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12076/) (2023)
- [See to Touch: Learning Tactile Dexterity through Visual Incentives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.12300/) (2023)
- [Dexterous Manipulation through Imitation Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.03515/) (2025)
- [All the Feels: A dexterous hand with large-area tactile sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.15658/) (2022)
- [Robust In-Hand Manipulation via Priors in Reinforcement Learning and Mechanical Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.12105/) (2026)
- [Proprioceptive Learning with Soft Polyhedral Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08538/) (2023)
- [Consensus-Driven Uncertainty for Robotic Grasping based on RGB Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.20045/) (2025)
- [One-Shot Multimodal Learning from Demonstration with Force-Constrained Elastic Maps](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.09515/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper introduces the i-HY Hand, an underactuated hand driven by 5 actuators that is capable of performing a wide range of grasping and in-hand manipulation tasks. This hand was designed to address the need for a durable, inexpensive, moderately dexterous hand suitable for use on mobile robots. The primary focus of this paper will be on the novel minimalistic design of i-HY, which was developed by choosing a set of target tasks around which the design of the hand was optimized. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of underactuated fingers that are capable of both firm power grasps and low- stiffness fingertip grasps using only the passive mechanics of the finger mechanism. Experimental results demonstrate successful grasping of a wide range of target objects, the stability of fingertip grasping, as well as the ability to adjust the force exerted on grasped objects using the passive finger mechanics.