PLATO Hand: Shaping Contact Behavior with Fingernails for Precise Manipulation

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05156v1
• Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:17:08 GMT
• Title: PLATO Hand: Shaping Contact Behavior with Fingernails for Precise Manipulation
• Abstract summary: The PLATO Hand is a dexterous robotic hand with a hybrid fingertip that embeds a rigid fingernail within a compliant pulp.<n>We develop a strain-energy-based bending-indentation model to guide the fingertip design.<n> Experimental results show improved pinching stability, enhanced force observability, and successful execution of edge-sensitive manipulation tasks.
• Score: 3.5374164303989204
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: We present the PLATO Hand, a dexterous robotic hand with a hybrid fingertip that embeds a rigid fingernail within a compliant pulp. This design shapes contact behavior to enable diverse interaction modes across a range of object geometries. We develop a strain-energy-based bending-indentation model to guide the fingertip design and to explain how guided contact preserves local indentation while suppressing global bending. Experimental results show that the proposed robotic hand design demonstrates improved pinching stability, enhanced force observability, and successful execution of edge-sensitive manipulation tasks, including paper singulation, card picking, and orange peeling. Together, these results show that coupling structured contact geometry with a force-motion transparent mechanism provides a principled, physically embodied approach to precise manipulation.

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