qb SoftHand Research

About

About qb SoftHand Research

qb SoftHand Research is an anthropomorphic underactuated hand for robotics research and education. A single motor and tendon-driven differential move five fingers and 19 phalanges, allowing the mechanism to adapt mechanically to differently shaped objects.

The 0.77 kg hand provides motor-position and current feedback, USB and RS485 interfaces, ROS compatibility and adapters for several collaborative robot arms. Its published 1.1 kg nominal pinch payload and 62 N pinch force describe the specified configuration.

Capabilities

Source-backed capabilities

  • Capability areas: Underactuated grasping, Compliant grasping, Robotic grasping
  • Workflows: End-effector manipulation, Material handling
  • Operating environments: Research robotics, collaborative robots, humanoid research and education
  • Target markets: Labs, universities and cobot developers testing mechanical adaptation instead of high-complexity finger control.
  • Deployment model: Commercial research hand for manipulation labs, humanoid development and adaptive grasping experiments.
  • Object classification

    Research demonstration - 2025-05-23 - The paper validates neuromorphic proprioceptive object classification on a QB SoftHand platform with flexible proprioceptive sensors.

    Source
  • Robotic grasping

    Claimed - qbrobotics presents qb SoftHand Research as a compliant underactuated hand that mechanically adapts to varied objects for collaborative-robot and humanoid research.

    Source
  • Dexterous manipulation

    Claimed - qbrobotics presents qb SoftHand Research as a compliant underactuated hand that mechanically adapts to varied objects for collaborative-robot and humanoid research.

    Source

Research

  • Single-grasp deformable object discrimination with qb SoftHand

    2022-04-13 - Research Publication - The paper studies how gripper morphology, sensing modalities, and action parameters affect single-grasp discrimination of deformable objects.

    Source

Resources

Official exact-product technical references for the qb SoftHand Research anthropomorphic underactuated hand.

Context

Market context

Underactuated research hand with one motor and one synergy for mechanically adaptive grasps.

  • Target environment: Research robotics, collaborative robots, humanoid research and education
  • Workflow context: Adaptive grasping, safe-contact manipulation and soft end-effector integration
  • Customer context: Labs, universities and cobot developers testing mechanical adaptation instead of high-complexity finger control.
  • Deployment model: Commercial research hand for manipulation labs, humanoid development and adaptive grasping experiments.
  • Commercial maturity: Commercial/research product page; integration kit and accessory selection should be confirmed with qbrobotics.
  • Adoption constraints: Adoption depends on payload, grasp type, mounting interface and whether one-synergy control fits the task.
  • Adjacent products: qb SoftHand2 Research, qb SoftHand Industry, IH2 Azzurra, SCHUNK SVH

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