WanNa Robotics has introduced NOVA21, a 21-degree-of-freedom dexterous hand aimed at research labs and robot developers, at the 2026 Hong Kong Autumn Electronics Fair. The company calls the debut a global first; that claim is its own marketing language and has not been independently verified.
NOVA21 uses a human-like layout at about 195 by 105 by 71 millimeters. The thumb has five active degrees of freedom and each of the other four fingers has four, all driven by rotary direct-drive actuators. WanNa says fingertip force reaches at least 20 newtons per finger and four-finger grip force at least 200 newtons, with force control and backdrivability for contact experiments.
Speed and accuracy figures are also public. Finger curl under no load is listed at 520 degrees per second, with fingertip repeatability of plus or minus 0.2 millimeters. Dual encoders on the drive modules are rated at 0.2 to 0.5 degrees of angular repeatability.
For touch, the hand carries 16 force sensors that combine fingertip and finger-pad three-axis sensing with a palm normal-force array. Normal force range is given as 0 to 25 newtons, tangential as plus or minus 10 newtons, and tactile resolution as 0.1 newtons. Interfaces include RS485 or CAN-FD on a two-pin connector and EtherCAT or TCP/IP on a four-pin connector, plus OTA updates and a quick-swap wrist.
WanNa positions NOVA21 for multi-finger coordination studies, industrial validation tasks such as tool pickup and connector insertion, and service-style pick-and-place across varied packaging. The firm says it designs the miniature actuators, structure and control stack together so force and motion can be tuned as one system.
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