ORCA Dexterity designs modular robotic hands and the accompanying control stack for research in dexterous manipulation. Their platform offers three interchangeable hand models—OrcaHand, OrcaHand Lite, and OrcaHand Touch—each with varying degrees of freedom and tactile sensing, all using a common firmware interface. The open‑source hardware is already deployed in labs across four continents for advanced manipulation experiments.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Researchers in robotics often face fragmented hardware solutions for dexterous manipulation, requiring custom integration of different hand designs, sensors, and control software. This fragmentation hampers reproducibility and slows progress in manipulation research.
Solution
ORCA offers a family of modular robotic hands—OrcaHand, OrcaHand Lite, and OrcaHand Touch—that share a common mechanical architecture, mounting interface, and firmware. The hands provide up to 17 degrees of freedom and optional tactile fingertip sensors, enabling a range of manipulation tasks from basic grasping to advanced dexterity experiments. An open‑source control stack and unified firmware interface allow researchers to swap hand configurations without rewriting software, ensuring consistent hardware‑software integration across labs. The platform is already deployed in research facilities on four continents, facilitating reproducible experiments and collaborative development.
Target Audience
Primary customers are university robotics labs, research institutes, and industry R&D teams that require flexible, high‑dexterity end‑effectors for manipulation studies.
Features
- Three interchangeable hand models (OrcaHand, OrcaHand Lite, OrcaHand Touch) with a shared mounting and firmware interface
- Up to 17 degrees of freedom for high‑resolution finger articulation
- Optional tactile fingertip sensors for force feedback in advanced manipulation
- Open‑source hardware designs and control software for community contributions and customization
- Unified firmware API that abstracts hand-specific details, simplifying software development
- Compatibility with common robot arms and research platforms for easy integration