15 April 2022

Dorabot’s Robotic Hand Awarded the 2022 German iF Design Award

The winners of the 2022 German iF Design Award, one of the world’s most famous industrial design awards, have been announced. The DoraHand-3F, the three-fingered model of Dorabot’s dexterous robotic hand, is on the list. It is among other notable awardees, such as the Maserati MC20, Ferrari 296GTB, and iPhone 13.

The DoraHand is the world’s first dexterous hand based on finger module design. Prior to receiving the iF Design Award, it also won the Red Dot Design Award, the Golden Pin Design Award, and the Silver Award of China’s Intelligent Manufacturing Design Competition.

Upon being equipped with the DoraHand, robotic systems are capable of carrying out complex grasping scenarios of various types of objects. The hand adopts a special sensor design combined with multi-degree-of-freedom (multi-DOF) configuration, which can not only meet the grasping needs of most objects, but also increase dexterity. The benefit of such robotic hands has been studied and applied in scientific research, service, and a number of other fields.

Highlight #1 Modular Design

DoraHand adopts a module quick-change design. Each finger has an independent drive control and sensing unit, which can work independently as well as support hot swapping.

For the customer, this design effectively solves the high cost and difficult maintenance of traditional multi-fingered dexterous hands. It improves the practicality of the hand, lowering the repair threshold. Research and development has actually seen great promise in this regard, having found that expanding the series of products based on modules will offer more convenient solutions across the board.

Highlight #2 High Sensitivity

The three-finger version of DoraHand has a total of 42 sensors of various types, which are evenly distributed in the force-touch sensing units of the fingers and palm. This provides it with perception ability that is comparable to that of a human hand, enabling precise and flexible grasping.

Highlight #3 Independent Dexterity

DoraHand-3F has 8 degrees of freedom that can be independently controlled. Through visual perception, force touch perception, grasp planning, and other algorithms, it controls each finger joint individually. This allows it to combine a variety of gestures to adapt and meet the objects in most life scenes.

When DoraHand is combined with DoraMOMA, a mobile collaborative robot developed by Dorabot, they can provide customers with indoor object grasping and handling services, including for scenarios in small spaces.

The combination of DoraMOMA and DoraHand also performed well during the COVID-19 pandemic. It carried out disinfection and sterilization operations quickly and efficiently, reducing labor costs while also keeping people safe by reducing cross-infection risks.

In addition to the award-winning three-finger version of the dexterous hand, Dorabot also provides a customized five-finger version for research clients to implement to complete remote manipulation tasks.

It is reported that this year’s iF Design Award received a total of 11,000 entries from 57 countries and regions around the world. It is composed of 132 design experts from more than 20 countries. Each entry undergoes evaluation of product concept, form, function, uniqueness, influence and more in order to decide the award winners. 

About the iF Design Award

The iF Design Award was founded in Germany in 1953 and is organized annually by the Hannover Industrial Design Forum, Germany’s oldest industrial design organization. After more than half a century of development, the German iF Design Award has become the highest standard of the global design industry. Along with the German Red Dot Award and the American IDEA Award, it now sits as one of the world’s three major design awards. The outstanding innovation and operation of the awarded creations represents a level of quality that consumers can trust, designs that are designated as “independent, rigorous, and reliable.”