The Shadow Dexterous Hand (DH) is a five-finger anthropomorphic robotic hand designed to closely approximate the size, kinematics, and functional range of a typical human hand. With 20 actuators, 24 degrees of freedom including under-actuated coupled motions, and tendon-driven transmission via compact Smart Motor modules, the DH is widely used in robotics research for grasp planning, in-hand manipulation, tactile sensing, and teleoperation. Finger geometry replicates staggered human knuckle placement; a thumb with multiple degrees of freedom enables opposition across a broad range of grasp types, while a little-finger palm joint expands the power grasp envelope further.

High-rate sensing is a defining characteristic of the platform. Joint position is measured using Hall-effect sensors with approximately 0.2° resolution at 1000 Hz; tactile data from the standard Shadow Tactile Fingertip modules updates at 1000 Hz, with each STF module providing 17×3-axis taxels using 12-bit ADC sampling. Force and torque data update at 500 Hz. The platform communicates over EtherCAT at 100 Mbps and integrates with ROS, making it a natural fit for closed-loop control, simulation-to-real transfer, and AI-enabled manipulation research. Total hand-and-forearm mass is approximately 4.3 kg; power grasp payload is rated at up to 5 kg.