Sharpa Unveils D01, W02, AE01 at IROS for Contact-Rich Manipulation
On the evening of September 28, at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in Pittsburgh, Sharpa unveiled three self-developed products.
They are the D01 integrated tactile-aware dexterous manipulation robot, the W02 next-generation full-tactile ultra-compact lightweight dexterous hand, and the AE01 high-fidelity exoskeleton haptic data glove. The three target whole-body motion execution, fine hand manipulation, and high-quality manipulation data collection, forming a complete hardware loop for complex contact-rich manipulation in real environments.
The D01 is Sharpa's first integrated tactile-aware dexterous manipulation robot. Its design centers on dexterity, agility, and precision, targeting tasks that require high-speed motion, high-precision control, and complex physical contact.
In contact-rich manipulation, robots often must trade off speed, force, and precision: move fast and fine control suffers; apply enough force and sensitivity becomes difficult. D01 aims to break that trade-off. Its arm payload-to-weight ratio is close to 1:1, maximum end-effector speed exceeds 10.5 m/s, communication frequency reaches 1,000 Hz, repeat positioning accuracy is 0.2 mm, and the spherical wrist adopts a 1:1 human-scale design.
D01 also features body electronic skin, allowing the robot for the first time to sense contact and collisions directly through skin, much like a human. This gives it near-human reaction and force control in highly dynamic scenarios such as catching falling objects or withstanding unexpected collisions. At the exhibition, Sharpa's robot completed a reaction-stick challenge, catching all ten sticks without a miss and reacting faster than a human.
Sharpa's new W02 is a full-tactile, ultra-compact, lightweight dexterous hand that integrates 21 active degrees of freedom into a more compact and lighter structure. Its overall size is about 30% smaller than the previous generation, reducing forearm load while allowing the hand to fit into workspaces designed to human-hand dimensions.
For perception, the W02's fingertips carry high-resolution visuotactile sensors with a force sensing range of 5 mN to 30 N and spatial resolution of 1 mm. The rest of the palm is covered by electronic skin, with a force sensing range of 0.1 to 20 N and spatial resolution of 5 mm, making the entire hand a sensing organ.
The AE01 high-fidelity exoskeleton haptic data glove, launched alongside the hand, targets precise teleoperation and first-person-view data collection. Using 22 encoders, the AE01 accurately captures the operator's natural hand movements and maps them to the robot in real time, enabling more natural and responsive high-fidelity teleoperation.
D01 handles whole-body motion execution and high-speed, high-precision manipulation; W02 handles fine hand manipulation; AE01 collects human manipulation data. Together, the three correspond to a complete manipulation capability loop in embodied AI.
Good robot manipulation requires execution hardware, perception hardware, and data sources at the same time. D01 and W02 provide execution and perception, while AE01 provides human demonstration data. This hardware-loop approach aligns with the direction that several companies have taken in dexterous hands and data collection.
W02's 21 active degrees of freedom and full-palm tactile configuration are close to recently released similar products in specifications, indicating that the dexterous hand track is converging on a relatively consistent technical route. D01's reaction-stick challenge tests perception and reaction under high-speed motion—capabilities that correspond to safety and response-speed requirements in industrial collaboration and home service scenarios.