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Orca Hand

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The ORCA Hand is an open-source, dexterous robotic hand with tactile sensing.
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MYBOTSHOP GmbH is a specialized supplier of professional robotics and automation components, providing high-quality hardware, expert support, and reliable solutions for research, education, and industrial development.

ORCA Hand

The ORCA Hand (ORCA v1) is a human-sized, open-source, tendon-driven dexterous robotic hand created to
help labs and developers start reliable manipulation research quickly. With 17 active degrees of freedom
(including a 1-DoF wrist) and integrated tactile sensing, ORCA supports teleoperation, imitation learning,
and reinforcement learning workflows—while remaining serviceable and cost-conscious by design.

Full Hardware Specs
Official Video
Official Website
Shop (Assembled Hand)
Open-Source Core
Dexterity17 active DoF (incl. 1-DoF wrist)
ActuationTendon-driven + DYNAMIXEL servos
SensingIntegrated tactile sensors (fingertips)
Power & I/O12 V input • Serial USB (U2D2)

 

Key benefits

  • Research-ready dexterity: 17 DoF supports diverse grasps and in-hand manipulation experiments.
  • Open-source ecosystem: core software and tooling enable fast integration into learning pipelines.
  • Cost- and time-efficient build: designed for sub-8-hour assembly and materials under ~2,000 CHF (published).
  • Tactile feedback: fingertip sensing supports contact-rich manipulation and slip-aware control.

Technical Hardware Specifications

Core mechanics

Manufacturer / origin ORCA Hand / Soft Robotics Lab (ETH Zürich)
Hand type Independent dexterous robotic hand (anthropomorphic)
Actuation Tendon-driven transmission
Active degrees of freedom (DoF) 17 total (including 1-DoF wrist)
Tactile sensing Integrated tactile sensors (fingertips)
Skin (published) Soft silicone skin

Physical

Weight ~1.3 kg (fully assembled listing)
Form factor Human-sized (anthropomorphic hand layout)

Electronics & interfaces

Actuators / motors DYNAMIXEL XC330-T228T and XC430-T240BB-T (listed)
Input voltage 12 V DC
Communication Serial USB via U2D2 Power Hub Board (listed)

Software & workflow

Open-source core orca_core repository (listed)
Teleoperation (published examples) Retargeting/teleop support (e.g., gloves/vision-based setups) via open-source tooling
Build philosophy (published) Designed for assembly in < 8 hours; material cost target < ~2,000 CHF

For integration-grade details (CAD, BOM, wiring, firmware/driver versions, tactile sensor characteristics),
use the official ORCA documentation and repositories linked above.

Typical applications

  • Dexterous manipulation research (imitation learning, RL, sim-to-real)
  • Teleoperation and data collection pipelines
  • Robust grasping demos with tactile feedback