# Ruka-v2: Tendon Driven Open-Source Dexterous Hand with Wrist and Abduction for Robot Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26660 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.26660/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 22 of its 30 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 27 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 22 of 22)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.04137/) (2023)
- [Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardware](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.13705/) (2023)
- [AnyTeleop: A General Vision-Based Dexterous Robot Arm-Hand Teleoperation System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.04577/) (2023)
- [BAKU: An Efficient Transformer for Multi-Task Policy Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.07539/) (2024)
- [LEAP Hand: Low-Cost, Efficient, and Anthropomorphic Hand for Robot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06440/) (2023)
- [OPEN TEACH: A Versatile Teleoperation System for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07870/) (2024)
- [Dexterity from Touch: Self-Supervised Pre-Training of Tactile Representations with Robotic Play](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12076/) (2023)
- [Point Policy: Unifying Observations and Actions with Key Points for Robot Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.20391/) (2025)
- [DexMachina: Functional Retargeting for Bimanual Dexterous Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.24853/) (2025)
- [SPIDER: Scalable Physics-Informed Dexterous Retargeting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.09484/) (2025)
- [Bridging the Human to Robot Dexterity Gap through Object-Oriented Rewards](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.23289/) (2024)
- [Dexterity from Smart Lenses: Multi-Fingered Robot Manipulation with In-the-Wild Human Demonstrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.16661/) (2025)
- [Learning Precise, Contact-Rich Manipulation through Uncalibrated Tactile Skins](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.17246/) (2024)
- [ORCA: An Open-Source, Reliable, Cost-Effective, Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand for Uninterrupted Dexterous Task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.04259/) (2025)
- [RBO Hand 3 -- A Platform for Soft Dexterous Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.10883/) (2022)
- [RUKA: Rethinking the Design of Humanoid Hands with Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13165/) (2025)
- [eFlesh: Highly customizable Magnetic Touch Sensing using Cut-Cell Microstructures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.09994/) (2025)
- [Contact-Anchored Policies: Contact Conditioning Creates Strong Robot Utility Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.09017/) (2026)
- [DexWrist: A Robotic Wrist for Constrained and Dynamic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.01008/) (2025)
- [Development of the Bioinspired Tendon-Driven DexHand 021 with Proprioceptive Compliance Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.03481/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Aero Hand Open: A Simulation-Ready Tendon-Driven Hand for Dexterous Manipulation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.28578/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Lack of accessible and dexterous robot hardware has been a significant bottleneck to achieving human-level dexterity in robots. Last year, we released Ruka, a fully open-sourced, tendon-driven humanoid hand with 11 degrees of freedom - 2 per finger and 3 at the thumb - buildable for under 1,300. It was one of the first fully open-sourced humanoid hands, and introduced a novel data-driven approach to finger control that captures tendon dynamics within the control system. Despite these contributions, Ruka lacked two degrees of freedom essential for closely imitating human behavior: wrist mobility and finger adduction/abduction. In this paper, we introduce Ruka-v2: a fully open-sourced, tendon-driven humanoid hand featuring a decoupled 2-DOF parallel wrist and abduction/adduction at the fingers. The parallel wrist adds smooth, independent flexion/extension and radial/ulnar deviation, enabling manipulation in confined environments such as cabinets. Abduction enables motions such as grasping thin objects, in-hand rotation, and calligraphy. We present the design of Ruka-v2 and evaluate it against Ruka through user studies on teleoperated tasks, finding a 51.3% reduction in completion time and a 21.2% increase in success rate. We further demonstrate its full range of applications for robot learning: bimanual and single-arm teleoperation across 13 dexterous tasks, and autonomous policy learning on 3 tasks. All 3D print files, assembly instructions, controller software, and videos are available at https://ruka-hand-v2.github.io/ .