Allegro Hand V5

Overview

The Wonik Robotics Allegro Hand V5 is a 16 degree-of-freedom (DoF) research dexterous hand that has become one of the most widely adopted platforms for manipulation research globally. Manufactured by South Korean company Wonik Robotics, the Allegro Hand is used in leading university robotics departments and industrial research laboratories to study dexterous manipulation, in-hand re-orientation, and the learning of complex hand skills. Its four independently actuated fingers, each with four DoF, provide a kinematic configuration that approximates human hand anatomy closely enough to study human-like manipulation strategies.

Key Specifications

• Degrees of freedom: 16 (4 per finger, 4 fingers)
• Actuation: Electric (brushless DC motors)
• Interface: ROS compatible (ROS 1 and ROS 2)
• Mounting: Standard robot arm interface (compatible with most research arms)
• Price: Contact Wonik Robotics for current pricing

The V5 represents the latest hardware revision, incorporating updated motor controllers and improved finger mechanics compared with earlier versions. The ROS driver ecosystem for the Allegro Hand is mature, with community-maintained packages for control, simulation in Gazebo and Isaac Sim, and teleoperation interfaces.

Use Cases

Research laboratories working on dexterous manipulation, reinforcement learning for hand control, sim-to-real transfer, and human-robot interaction deploy the Allegro Hand as a standardised research platform. The widespread adoption means that pre-trained policies, datasets, and code repositories frequently target the Allegro Hand, making it easier for new research groups to build on existing work.

UK university AI and robotics research groups, particularly those working on learning-based manipulation, use the Allegro Hand with arms including the Franka Research 3, Kinova Gen3, and Unitree Z1. The hand's standardised mounting interface facilitates this cross-platform use.

Buying Used

A secondary market exists through university surplus channels and occasional direct sales from research groups transitioning to newer platforms. The Allegro Hand is a precision mechanical instrument, and used units should be inspected for finger actuator health, joint flexibility, and cable integrity before purchase. Wonik Robotics provides repair and refurbishment services.

Alternatives to Consider

• Shadow Robot Dexterous Hand for a higher-DoF hand with stronger tactile sensing options
• Inspire Robots RH56DFX for a 5-finger alternative at potentially lower cost
• Barrett Hand for a robust and mature 3-finger dexterous hand with long research history