Honda Multi-fingered Hand

Honda R&D is developing this multi-fingered hand for its avatar robot Honda Avatar Robot rather than for sale. Sixteen active joints are driven by in-hand motors using Honda's proprietary Willow Drive; each joint sustains up to 180 degrees per second, and a fingertip can hold 50 N of continuous force for 150 s. Every fingertip carries a six-axis force sensor, and 288 tactile channels are spread over fingers and palm.

Control blends force and position regulation with an automatic switch to compliance when an impact above 1.23 m/s is detected. In endurance testing the hand survived more than 450,000 cycles, among them 24,000 lifts of a 5 kg weight, although Honda publishes neither payload nor weight nor finger count.

Press reports describe the hand threading a needle and tightening screws at a robotics summit in Tokyo in May 2026, followed by a demonstration on the avatar robot at CEATEC in October 2026. It remains a prototype with no price. For comparable sensor density with direct drive, see the Chinese RH5MK1.