LEAP Hand: Low-Cost, Anthropomorphic, Multi-fingered Hand [RSS 2023]

Project Page: https://leap-hand.github.io/

TL;DR: Low-cost Human-like motorized hand for robot learning. Costs under 2K USD and can be assembled in hand.

Authors: Kenneth Shaw, Ananye Agrawal, Deepak Pathak.
Affiliation: Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract: Dexterous manipulation has been a long-standing challenge in robotics. While machine learning techniques have shown some promise, results have largely been currently limited to simulation. This can be mostly attributed to the lack of suitable hardware. In this paper, we present LEAP Hand, a low-cost dexterous, and anthropomorphic hand for machine learning research. In contrast to previous hands, the LEAP Hand has a novel kinematic structure that allows maximal dexterity regardless of finger pose. LEAP Hand is low-cost and can be assembled in 4 hours at a cost of 2000 USD from readily available parts. It is capable of consistently exerting large torques over long durations of time. We show that LEAP Hand can be used to perform several manipulation tasks in the real world—from visual teleoperation to learning from passive video data and sim2real. LEAP Hand significantly outperforms its closest competitor Allegro Hand in all our experiments while being 1/8th of the cost. We release the URDF model, 3D CAD files, tuned simulation environment, and a development platform with useful APIs on our website.

Music by Vincent Rubinetti (courtesy @3Blue1Brown)
Download the music on Bandcamp:
https://vincerubinetti.bandcamp.com/a...
Stream the music on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1dVyjw...