BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch Robot Hand

A hand that can close around an object is easy to find. A hand that registers where on its palm the object is pressing is a different tool. The BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch Robot Hand is built for that second job: a 21-degree-of-freedom, direct-driven and backdrivable hand that adds a full-palm piezoresistive tactile array to the Revo 3 platform.

Robots USA sells the BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch Robot Hand and supplies it to customers across the United States. Robots USA prepares your quotation, arranges delivery and supports the hand after it ships.

Background

BrainCo and the Revo lineage

BrainCo makes the Revo family of dexterous hands. Revo 3 is the company's third-generation robot hand, and per the published launch information it launched on 10 April 2026. If you are tracking how the line has progressed, earlier generations remain on this site for comparison, including the BrainCo Revo 1 Intelligent Dexterous Bionic Hand and the Brainco Revo 2 Touch Biomimetic Dexterous Right Hand (XTR). The full third-generation range is gathered in the BrainCo Revo 3 category.

The sources name four Revo 3 versions: U21, U21F, U21T and U21VT. This page covers the touch version with the full-palm tactile array, listed as the Revo 3 U21T. Figures that belong only to this version are marked as such below, and nothing from a sibling is borrowed for it.

Positioning and key technology

The manufacturer describes the Revo 3 as a biomimetic dexterous hand designed for industrial automation, scientific research and advanced robotics manipulation. That is a single-source description, but it matches how this class of hand is normally deployed: at the end of an arm or on a humanoid platform, where the task needs finger-level control rather than a simple open-and-close gripper.

Two design choices define the hand. The first is its joint system. The published specification lists 21 degrees of freedom, direct-driven and backdrivable. Backdrivable joints can be moved by an outside force, which matters when a hand meets an unexpected obstacle or a person guides it by hand. The second is the tactile layer. The Touch version carries a full-palm piezoresistive array, reported at 451 points.

Technical Specifications

Specifications as published by the manufacturer; every figure is confirmed against the datasheet at quotation.

What makes the Revo 3-21 Touch different from a standard gripper hand?

A conventional gripper has one or two degrees of freedom and a handful of preset grips. This hand reports 21, split into four fingers with 4 DoF each and a thumb with 5. That layout is what lets it cover 33 grasp types from the Feix GRASP taxonomy, according to the published specification. The same source reports a full score on the Kapandji opposition test, which measures how well the thumb can reach each finger.

Because the joints are direct-driven and backdrivable, the hand does not depend on a rigid, non-yielding transmission. For contact-rich work such as in-hand reorientation, teleoperation or learning from demonstration, that compliance is useful. A hand that gives way under an outside load is easier to teach and kinder to the objects it handles.

What does the tactile array add?

Vision tells a robot where an object is. It says little about how the object sits once the fingers close around it. The touch version addresses this with a full-palm piezoresistive array, reported at 451 points. Pressure over the palm can be read as a map instead of a single on-or-off signal, which supports work on slip detection, contact localization and grasp quality. It also gives researchers a data stream to feed into learning pipelines.

The tactile array is listed for this version only. If your application does not need palm sensing, the BrainCo Revo 3-21 Basic Robot Hand is the simpler place to start. If you need a version with additional visual-tactile perception, look at the BrainCo Revo 3-21 V-Touch Robot Hand. Confirm the mapping of each page to its version designation when you request a quotation.

Integration is covered by three communication interfaces: EtherCAT, CAN FD and RS-485. The hand also reports IMU and temperature readings from its mainboard. For software, the manufacturer provides C/C++ and Python SDKs for Linux and Windows. Power is a stable 24V DC supply rated at least 100W, with a maximum current of 10 A at 24 V, so the supply needs to be sized with that headroom to avoid voltage drop.

Who is the BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch for?

Research labs are the clearest fit. Teams working on manipulation learning, tactile perception or teleoperation get a 21-DoF hand with a palm sensor array and standard SDKs in two languages. Universities and corporate R&D groups building humanoid platforms will find the dimensions and the industrial fieldbus options suited to arm and torso integration.

System integrators and automation engineers are the second group. EtherCAT and CAN FD sit comfortably in industrial control architectures, and the published durability rating of over 1,000,000 joint flex cycles speaks to repeated-use scenarios. Teams that handle delicate or irregular parts and want contact feedback at the palm will get the most from the touch version.

If your work needs only the dexterous hand and no tactile layer, a sibling version may be the more economical path. Our team can help you choose between versions at quotation.

What is the BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch used for?

1. Dexterous manipulation research. Studying grasp planning, in-hand motion and thumb opposition across the 33 published grasp types.
2. Tactile perception studies. Collecting palm pressure maps from the 451-point array for contact and slip research.
3. Humanoid robot end-effectors. Giving a humanoid platform a hand with a human-like finger and thumb layout.
4. Teleoperation and demonstration learning. Capturing human motion and replaying it through a backdrivable, direct-driven hand.
5. Industrial automation cells. Handling varied or irregular parts where a two-finger gripper falls short.
6. Education and prototyping. Teaching advanced robotics with SDK access on Linux or Windows.

Pricing and Availability

Robots USA does not publish a price for the BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch Robot Hand. Pricing is provided by quotation, which lets us confirm the version, quantity and configuration you need. Delivery, customs and support are arranged together with the quotation. Send us your application details, and the quotation request is available on this page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many degrees of freedom does the hand have?

The published specification lists 21 degrees of freedom, direct-driven and backdrivable. The four fingers have 4 DoF each and the thumb has 5.

What tactile sensing does this version have?

The Revo 3 U21T carries a full-palm piezoresistive array, reported at 451 points. This is listed for the touch version only.

How do I connect and control it?

The hand lists EtherCAT, CAN FD and RS-485 interfaces. C/C++ and Python SDKs are available for Linux and Windows, per the manufacturer.

What power supply does it need?

The manufacturer recommends a stable 24V DC supply of at least 100W. The maximum current is listed as 10 A at 24 V.

How durable is it?

The hand is rated for over 1,000,000 joint flex cycles, according to the published specification. Ingress protection and operating temperature range have not been published, and are confirmed at quotation.

What are the size and weight?

Dimensions are listed as 216 × 108 × 50 mm. The manufacturer has not published the weight; it is confirmed at quotation.

Where can I buy the BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch and what does it cost?

Robots USA sells and supplies it. The cost is provided by quotation, so send us your requirements and we will respond with a quote that covers delivery and support.

Summary

The BrainCo Revo 3-21 Touch is for teams that need more than a hand that closes: 21 degrees of freedom, backdrivable joints, 33 reported grasp types and a 451-point palm array that lets the robot feel the grasp. Open items such as weight, ingress protection and operating temperature are confirmed at quotation. When you are ready to evaluate it for your lab or cell, this page is the starting point.