The Unhandy Valley · Max Titov
I’ve been following the designs of robotic end effectors for some time now. There are two main camps: simple grippers and complex human-like hands. In this essay, I compare end effectors from both industry and open-source communities. My intention is not to discount anyone’s work, but rather to explore the different approaches. A clearer understanding of what has already been tried can help us all move forward. The longer I’ve spent working on hands, the more apparent a cost-benefit trend has become to me, which I’m calling: The name is inspired by The Uncanny Valley, and the curve follows a similar trajectory. There are many qualities that go into the axes of complexity (intricacy, controllability, part count, cost, maintainability) and usefulness (fine manipulation, tactile feedback, tool use, repeatability, strength). I’m focusing this comparison on an end effector’s ability to generalize to diverse tasks and environments. If you only want to do a few tasks, then just choose the sim