PRO ROBOTS discusses Wuji Technology’s dexterous robot hands, data collection glove, and their potential role in embodied AI at ICRA 2026 in Vienna.
The presenter argues that robot demos often avoid showing dexterous handwork outside controlled conditions. They compare Tesla’s unseen Optimus hand, Atlas’s simpler industrial grippers, Figure 03’s difficult-to-build hand, and common six-degree-of-freedom grippers used by Chinese humanoid makers.
Wuji Technology began in Shenzhen making compact motors. The presenter says its hand places small motors and rigid gears inside the fingers instead of using tendons, and describes the first Wuji Hand as having 20 degrees of freedom, weighing under 600 grams, and costing $5,500 to $16,000. The design is presented as a more affordable research platform than the Shadow Hand, which the presenter prices at $100,000 to $150,000.
Wuji’s ecosystem includes a sensor glove that records 20 joint movements, matching the Wuji Hand 2’s controlled joints. The presenter argues that this could let AI teams collect human task data and transfer it to the robot with less mismatch between the body used to gather data and the body performing the task. They contrast this approach with costly teleoperation and cite Stanford’s Mobile ALOHA at $32,000.
At ICRA 2026 in Vienna, Wuji demonstrated Hand 2 manipulating a Rubik’s Cube live. The presenter describes a 580-gram hand with human-sized palm dimensions and says its electronics monitor finger force at 1,000 hertz. They frame the demo as evidence of progress while noting that tasks such as handling cash, tying shoes, and manipulating small screws remain difficult for robots.
The presenter connects hand dexterity to the scale of humanoid ambitions, citing a Morgan Stanley estimate of a $5 trillion market by 2050. They also recount Foxconn’s gap between a pledge of one million robots and a reported deployment of 100,000, attributing some assembly challenges to robots’ difficulty sensing the force needed for tiny screws. Wuji is described as a contender, though the presenter says its success is not assured.
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Yunja Pan, founder of Wuji Technology, discusses direct-drive dexterous hands, simulation, data collection, and company strategy with Peter Chen of AlphaFund Partners.
