Gesture Platforms
"A dexterous, reliable, and customizable hardware + software platform for wherever you need a hand!"
Seattle-based maker of the Gesture HW1, a 500 g, 10-DoF, 19-joint ESP32-S3 robotic hand and wrist that raised about US$124k on Kickstarter in 2026.
Gesture Platforms is a small hardware start-up that develops low-cost dexterous robotic hands for researchers, developers and robot builders. Its first product is the Gesture HW1 (HandWrist1), which the company describes as a 19-joint, 10-degree-of-freedom robotic hand and wrist designed to be accessible in price while remaining capable, reliable and customisable. The company has not published founder names or a street address; its Kickstarter creator profile places it in Seattle, Washington, while the humanoid.guide directory lists it as Canadian.
The HW1 was funded through a Kickstarter campaign that ran from 27 May to 27 June 2026 with a goal of 60,000 US dollars. It closed with about 123,700 dollars pledged by 137 backers and carried Kickstarter's Project We Love badge. Campaign reward tiers, as reported by CNX Software, were 699 dollars for a limited launch-day batch of 100 units, 849 dollars for early backers and 1,599 dollars for a left-and-right pair, with shipping charged separately and estimated delivery in November 2026. Humanoid.guide lists the hand as a prototype at a reference price of 1,399 dollars.
Published specifications describe a five-finger hand with integrated two-axis wrist. The ten active degrees of freedom cover finger flexion from 0 to 90 degrees at each joint, finger adduction and abduction from minus 10 to 40 degrees, thumb flexion and extension up to 120 degrees, thumb adduction and abduction from 20 to 90 degrees, thumb distal flexion, wrist flexion and extension of plus or minus 50 degrees and wrist radial and ulnar deviation from minus 10 to 40 degrees. The unit weighs about 500 grams, stands about 275 mm tall, handles a 1 kg dynamic and 3 kg static payload with about 1 mm accuracy, and runs its control loop at 100 Hz. Each motor reports angle, current and temperature. Control electronics are built around an Espressif ESP32-S3 dual-core microcontroller with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 LE, communication runs over USB-C, and power comes in through an XT60 connector. Mechanical details include aluminium gears at the key joints, soft Shore 30A silicone fingertips, a fabric cover, four user-programmable RGB LEDs and M3 mounting threads for attaching the hand to an arm or fixture; humanoid.guide describes the actuation as a mix of direct drive and tendon drive with a 3D-printed composite structure.
On the software side, the hand ships with an offline Windows 10 and 11 desktop application offering four control modes: text input from CSV files, a timeline editor, a game-controller mode and a streaming mode for live control. Python and C++ SDKs for custom machine-learning and control work are announced but not yet released, and the company plans to publish STEP files so users can 3D print or modify the outer parts.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Contact Gesture Platforms
WEBSITE
https://gestureplatforms.comHEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
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Primary Role
Component Supplier
Company Size
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Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
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Funding Stage
Grant / Non-profit
Funding Total
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