Achieving precise manipulation with multi-fingered robotic hands

Determine effective approaches for achieving precise manipulation—defined as fingertip-scale, finely controlled motions and contacts that yield accurate object poses and delicate interactions—using multi-fingered robotic hands.

Background

The paper distinguishes power manipulation—where multi-fingered hands excel due to increased contact stability—from precise manipulation, which requires fingertip-scale control and accurate object poses. In practice, parallel grippers are more commonly used for precision tasks, underscoring a gap in capabilities for multi-fingered hands.

Within this context, the authors explicitly note that achieving precise manipulation with multi-fingered hands remains an open problem for the community, motivating their co-design approach that optimizes both control strategies and fingertip geometry to address this challenge.