Chinese startups are at the forefront of a global race to solve one of robotics' most formidable challenges: creating fully dextrous robotic hands. These nimble appendages are essential to transform humanoid robots from dancing novelties into practical tools capable of performing everyday tasks. Leveraging China's manufacturing prowess and strong government backing for what is termed 'embodied AI,' companies like LinkerBot and Wuji Technology are pushing the boundaries of what machines can achieve.
The Complexity of Human Hands
Human hands, with their intricate network of nerves and bones, are the most flexible part of the skeleton. Simple actions like tying shoelaces or buttoning a shirt require complex neurological instructions and precise coordination. For millennia, no machine has replicated this capability. However, advances in artificial intelligence are bringing this goal within reach, with many key players based in China.
Since Unitree's dancing humanoids captivated audiences at the 2025 Spring Gala, China's enthusiasm for robotics has surged. Policymakers view robotics as vital for future economic growth amid an aging and shrinking workforce. Marketing materials depict robots folding laundry, cooking, and cutting hair, promising to free humans from mundane chores.
Government Support and Market Potential
Beijing has emphasized 'embodied AI' in its development plans. In May, the Chinese Communist Party's theoretical journal, Qiushi, highlighted 'embodied-intelligence robots' as sectors opening up new trillion-yuan markets. Despite China leading in factory robot installations—over half of the world's annual installations occur there—humanoid applications remain limited. The International Federation of Robotics noted in September that 'true multipurpose humanoids are far off yet.'
The bottleneck lies in creating human-like hands. Elon Musk, whose Tesla develops the Optimus humanoid, stated that hands represent 'the majority of the engineering difficulty of the entire robot.'
The Challenge of Robotic Hands
Zhou Yong, founder of LinkerBot, a leading dextrous hand company, explains that making a robotic hand is 'one hundred times more difficult than making a humanoid. Its dexterity is 10 times that of other body parts, but its volume is only one tenth.' Inspired by Steve Jobs, Zhou focused solely on hands, launching LinkerBot in 2023. The company now produces about 5,000 hands monthly and aims to double that, targeting a $6 billion valuation. 'Human hands are the most important ability of human beings,' Zhou says. His ambitions include affordable prosthetic hands for amputees, aiming to reduce costs from tens of thousands of dollars to just $1,000 per hand.
Robotic hand development involves solving both hardware and software problems. China's cheap, sophisticated manufacturing supply chain, bolstered by the electric vehicle industry, provides components like lithium-ion batteries and miniaturized motors. Pan Yunzhe, founder of Wuji Technology, cites supply chain ease as his reason for basing his company in China rather than the US, where he graduated. 'It was really impossible to do hardware in the United States because the supply chain problem is just so constraining,' he says.
Software and Data Collection Hurdles
The more challenging aspect is software—teaching hands to perform tasks. Nathan Lepora, professor of robotics and AI at the University of Bristol, notes, 'The challenge of making these hands is getting solved now. Controlling them, now that's a whole different game… nobody knows how to do that.' Teleoperation, akin to operating a claw machine, is used to collect data for training spatial intelligence models. Unlike large language models, which draw on vast text data, three-dimensional data sources are scarce.
Wuji Technology's flagship product, the Wuji glove, is a sensor-filled wearable that collects movement data and subtle pressure and touch information—skills intuitive to humans but alien to robots. 'The two most fundamental problems in dextrous manipulation in terms of data collection are capturing how a human moves and what humans are touching or feeling,' says Pan. Those questions are 'super complicated and not solved yet.'
China's Robotics Boom
China has registered over 1 million robotic companies, with 2025 registrations up 40% from the previous year. The dextrous hand industry surpassed 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in 2024, up from 13 billion yuan. Entrepreneurs like Zhou and Pan are betting on solving these challenges. Zhou envisions a future where robotic hands build more robotic hands, a self-perpetuating loop with minimal human input. 'We are not creating robots to replace labour,' Zhou says. 'We are creating robots so that humans can live a better and more prosperous life.'
