ARTUS Lite

Sarcomere Dynamics from St. Albert in Alberta introduced the ARTUS Lite at Hannover Messe in March 2024 as its entry-level hand. Twenty joints are moved by sixteen independent actuators plus four under-actuated couplings, with articulated actuators housed in each finger rather than tendons from a forearm.

Built from carbon fibre, aluminium and silicone, the hand weighs 1.1 kg, draws up to 120 W at 12 V and carries 5 kg, with 10 to 15 kg versions available on request. Fingertip force is 1.5 kg, roughly 14.7 N, and the open-close rate is 0.6 Hz. Each finger reports joint position and force internally; there is no surface tactile skin.

Connectivity covers CAN, serial and WiFi, mounting uses an ISO 9409-1-50-4-M6 flange common on collaborative arms, and programming goes through the ArtusAPI Python library. Price on request. The company's first prototype was a prosthetic hand developed at UBC, which explains the anthropomorphic layout.

Against SVH 5-Finger-Hand, another twenty-joint hand, the ARTUS Lite has more independent drives and lower weight; against RH8D it trades compactness for payload.