The Dexterity Deadlock
Summary
The article argues that high gear ratios in finger actuators create a dexterity deadlock by worsening sim-to-real transfer, reducing force transparency, and increasing wear. It presents a hardware-centric solution using axial-flux motors and a 15:1 gearbox to dramatically reduce reflected inertia and backlash, enabling backdrivability and proprioceptive sensing, with qualitative validation and a landscape of existing hands to illustrate trade-offs.