Gasgoo Munich- The 2026 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2026) was held in Pittsburgh, U.S., from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1. Inspire Robots brought multiple dexterous-hand series and micro servo linear actuators to the show — and used the stage to unveil its all-new RH5MK1 series, a 22-DOF fully direct-drive dexterous hand, for the first time anywhere in the world.
The newly debuted RH5MK1 series mirrors a human hand at a 1:1 scale, packing 22 active degrees of freedom that allow each of the five fingers to move independently. It hits an open-close frequency of 5Hz and delivers a backdrivable torque of 0.05 N·m. The hand is fitted with 6D fingertip tactile sensors offering force resolution down to 0.005 N, covering critical contact zones across the fingers and palm. What's more, it relies on self-developed high-strength joint modules with active zero-position calibration — a setup that curbs long-term sensor drift and lays the hardware groundwork for continuous data collection and algorithm training.
Image source: Inspire Robots
Beyond the flagship launch, Inspire Robots displayed a lineup of dexterous hands built for varied use cases. The RH5DG2 series, for instance, packs 13 active DOF across 18 motion joints. The RH56H1 leans into a compact, highly integrated design suited for smaller robots. Built for humanoids, the RH56F2 features an all-metal structure loaded with multi-dimensional sensors — tactile, force, position, and temperature. The RH56E2 targets industrial applications, delivering 30 N of fingertip grip force and a 15 kg payload for the entire hand. Also on display were self-developed micro servo linear actuators that tightly integrate core components: coreless motors, planetary gearboxes, planetary roller screws, and sensors.
On Sept. 28, Inspire Robots strategy head Liu Wenrui delivered a keynote at the IROS 2026 technical exchange banquet. He homed in on four industry-wide pain points for dexterous hands — reliability, testing standards, core-component compatibility, and cost — and drilled into specifics like fatigue life and load testing. The core message: mapping the engineering hurdles that must be cleared as dexterous hands transition from lab prototypes to scaled, real-world deployment.
Inspire Robots has spent a decade refining dexterous-hand technology, threading in-house core-component expertise through every stage of R&D and manufacturing. Today, its business spans core drive units like micro servo linear actuators, motion control, full-hand design, and system integration — a multi-tech, multi-series product ecosystem built to scale.
