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This paper presents the new robotic FRH-4 hand. The FRH-4 hand constitutes a new hybrid concept of an an.thropomorphic five fingered hand and a three jaw robotic gripper. The hand has a humanoid appearance while maintaining the precision of a robotic gripper. Since it is actuated with flexible fluidic actuators, it exhibits an excellent power to weight ratio. These elastic actuators also ensure that the hand is safe for interacting with humans. In order to fully control the joints, it is equipped with position sensors on all of the 11 joints. The hand is also fitted with tactile sensors based on cursor navigation sensor elements, which allows it to have grasping feedback and the ability for exploration.

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The actuation principle of spider legs has served as an analogue for several technological fields. The current generation of Flexible Fluidic actuators (FFA) follows this principle and pushes their performance to meet industrial requirements. These new actuators are fabricated in a new two step vulcanization process with specially developed rubber compounds. In the first step the inner rubber boot is manufactured. The second step bonds the fiber reinforcement and the metal connectors to the inner rubber boot. The Actuators can carry a statical internal pressure of 20 bars and withstand up to 1.200.000 load cycles at an internal pressure of 6 bars. The new manufacturing process allows applying the biomimetic spider leg approach even for structural robotic links with variable stiffness. In order to exploit the potential of FFAs a compliant mechanism with integrated position sensor was developed. This flexural joint exhibits highly integrated sensors, small weight, and low friction. Over all, actuators and structural links with variable stiffness and inherent compliance as well as light weight composite joints were developed. These components serve as a platform for applications in the field of service robotics, artificial hands, prosthetics, orthotics, and human-robot interaction.