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PLATO Hand: Shaping Contact Behavior with Fingernails for Precise Manipulation

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PLATO Hand: Shaping Contact Behavior with Fingernails for Precise Manipulation

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2026 Abstract We present the PLATO Hand, a dexterous robotic hand with a hybrid fingertip that combines a rigid fingernail, an embedded distal phalanx, and a compliant pulp. Instead of treating the fingertip as a passive soft pad, the design mechanically shapes how contact is initiated, supported, and transmitted during manipulation. We develop a strain-energy-based bending-indentation model that explains how material stiffness and contact geometry partition fingertip deformation between global bending and local indentation. Experiments show…

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