Barrett Technology

An arm and a hand from robotics laboratories

Barrett Technology of the USA built its position on two products: the lightweight WAM arm and the three-fingered BarrettHand. Both go mainly to universities and institutes researching manipulation, touch and teleoperation, not to production lines. For a reader trying to understand where the "hands" of research humanoid robots come from, this is one of the classic names.

The WAM arm

The WAM datasheet describes a lightweight arm with a cable-driven transmission, a cabled differential and patented cable auto-tensioners. Three configurations are offered: 4 axes, 7 axes (both with human-like kinematics) and 4 axes with a three-axis gimbal wrist. More on axis counts in “Degrees of Freedom (DOF) in Humanoid Robots”. All axes are driven by brushless motors with space-vector commutation, and the manufacturer stresses practically zero backlash, very low friction and highly backdrivable joints. That is exactly the property modern designs like to achieve with quasi-direct drive; the principle is explained in “Actuators in Humanoid Robots”.

Force control follows from this backdrivability: the open-source C/C++ software exposes motor torque control at 1 kHz, gravity compensation and a "Teach and Play" function in which the arm is guided by hand while the motion is recorded and replayed. The manufacturer lists mobile robotics, haptics, rehabilitation and medicine as application areas. There is no controller cabinet, and the arm runs on AC or DC power.

The BarrettHand gripper

The BH8-282 is a programmable gripper with three multi-jointed fingers; two of them have an extra degree of freedom and 180° of lateral motion. It houses its own electronics, servo controllers and four brushless motors, and every joint has an encoder. According to the datasheet it weighs 980 g and carries 6 kg in high-payload mode. It communicates over a serial port or CAN, and the GCL language lets users change grasp shape electronically in under half a second. An optional tactile sensor array is available. The listed applications include handling food, castings and glass, and manipulating hazardous materials. Cheaper alternatives are offered by Robotiq and OnRobot, and touch sensing is developed by, among others, Xela Robotics.

Meaning for cost and for Poland

We found no Barrett prices in the sources and do not give any; this is research hardware, so setting its price against “How Much Does a Humanoid Robot Cost in 2026” only makes sense as a reference point for a hand and arm in a prototype. The real context is universities and laboratories, where an open platform and the ability to write one's own control algorithms matter. For the medical tasks described under “Exoskeletons” or in hospitals, an arm with backdrivable joints is a research subject rather than a finished product.