Chinese robotics firm Xynova has unveiled its second-generation dexterous hand, aiming to improve humanoid robots’ ability to perform human-like manipulation tasks in real-world environments.

The new Gen-2 hand, named Flex 2, combines multiple actuation technologies in a hybrid drive system, enabling it to handle objects with different shapes, textures, and levels of fragility more effectively.

Designed to move beyond the limitations of rigid industrial grippers, the robotic hand can adapt to delicate and irregular objects with greater precision and flexibility.

Xynova says the technology is intended to advance humanoid robots toward more intelligent and versatile task execution across industries.

Humanlike grasp evolution

The robotic hand features a 23-degree-of-freedom bionic design engineered for fast, human-like movement and precise manipulation.

Weighing just 0.88 pounds (400 grams), the hand can perform two fist extensions per second, delivering agile and responsive motion similar to a human hand. It also achieved a perfect score in the Kapandji Thumb Opposition Test, demonstrating strong dexterity and shape adaptation capabilities, according to the firm’s website.

Designed for precision tasks, Xynova claims the system offers repeatability of ±0.1 millimeters and supports hybrid force and position control through back-drivable actuation under load. Its force control accuracy reaches as low as 0.05 newtons, enabling delicate object handling.

The hand integrates multi-modal perception, tactile sensing, and a human-like “cerebellum” system for adaptive grasping, slip detection, and compliant reflexes. An open development ecosystem also allows developers to customize and expand its capabilities.

In terms of strength, the robotic hand can support a single-hand grasp load of 26.4 pounds (12 kilograms) and a continuous operation load of 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms). Wear-resistant surfaces and micro linear actuators provide durable yet powerful performance.

The system is also built for reliability, offering resistance to dust, drops, and impacts while supporting millions of operation cycles across demanding environments.

Advanced hybrid manipulation

Flex 2 represents Xynova’s latest step toward building dexterous robotic hands capable of human-like manipulation in real-world environments.

The hybrid-drive system combines cable-driven tendons with direct-drive actuation, balancing flexibility, compactness, and precision in a way that mirrors the mechanics of the human hand. Tendon-driven systems provide compliance and lightweight movement, while direct-drive actuation delivers the torque and control needed for accurate object handling during complex tasks.

The company’s earlier Flex 1 model already demonstrated strong hardware performance with 25 degrees of freedom, a 380-gram weight, 66 pounds (30 kilograms) load capacity, and 20-newton fingertip force. With Flex 2, the focus shifts toward improving control fidelity during physical interaction, an area that remains one of the biggest challenges for robotic hands operating outside controlled environments.

Xynova has also redesigned the vision system by moving the camera from the palm to the wrist joint. The change helps maintain a clear visual stream while grasping objects, avoiding the occlusion problems common in palm-mounted designs. This could significantly improve the quality of data collected for vision-language-action training pipelines used in embodied AI systems.

Combined with integrated tactile sensing and proprioception, the new sensor stack is aimed at solving the “last centimeter” challenge in robotics — enabling humanoid robots to perform precise, contact-rich manipulation tasks with greater reliability and adaptability.