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Yale University

SDM Hand

Do not confuse with later Yale OpenHand designs.

Price
Not disclosed
Type
Components · Dexterous Hands
Status
Research prototype
Availability
Not disclosed
Release Date
Apr 2010
Country/Region
United States
Latest parameter verification
2026-10-30
1 DOF
Active degrees of freedom
8 joints
Mechanical joint count
4 fingers
Finger count

The SDM Hand is a four-finger, eight-joint underactuated research hand driven by one DC motor. Polymer-based Shape Deposition Manufacturing forms rigid links and compliant joints; tendon-and-pulley coupling enables adaptive grasping. The reported visual-positioning experiments describe a research prototype, not an offered commercial product.

1 / 1SDM Hand

Technical specifications

Model specifications are shown below. Configuration-specific values are listed separately; missing data does not mean zero or unsupported.

Degrees of freedom and drive

Finger count
4 fingers
Actuator count
1 actuator
Actuator technology
DC motor
Active degrees of freedom
1 DOF

One active actuation input; eight mechanically moving joints are recorded separately as joint count.

Mechanical joint count
8 joints
Materials
Polymer-based SDM with polyurethane flexures
Transmission mechanism
Tendon cable and pulley coupling
Joint Motion Range
28.6479°

Mechanical and mounting

Depth
9.3 cm
Maximum grip diameter
21 cm
Minimum grip diameter
6.4 cm

Mechanical Structure

Joint Sensor Type
Joint-angle and fingerpad-contact sensors; unused in study
Joint Type
Elastomeric flexure joints

Configurations

SDM Hand — published 2010 prototype

Sensing

Has tactile sensing
Supported (embedded contact sensors)

Embedded fingerpad contact sensors are present, but were not used as feedback in the published experiments.

Commercial Status

Status
Research prototype
Price
Not disclosed
Release Date
Apr 2010
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