Haptics & Smart Hands

Buying advice

Sort the list before comparing prices

This page puts prosthetic hands next to gloves and a vest for virtual reality, animation and robot teleoperation, and the buying routes differ. The bebionic hand, BrainRobotics Hand and SensorHand Speed follow a clinical route through a prosthetics team. In the United States, 21 CFR 890.3420 classes a powered hand as an external limb prosthetic component, a Class I device exempt from premarket notification, so a clearance letter is not the evidence to ask for. Ask instead about outcome data, compatibility with the user's socket and wrist, and the nearest service centre that can repair the hand.

Pin down what feedback actually means

ISO 9241-910:2011 gives a shared vocabulary for tactile and haptic interaction, which helps when two makers use the same marketing term for different things. Ask each glove maker to state plainly whether its product tracks, gives feedback or both, and to quote latency and the SDK support your developers need. Research such as the skin-integrated wireless haptic interface reported in Nature by Yu and colleagues points towards thinner, battery-free actuators, but treat lab work as a direction of travel rather than a reason to wait. In October 2026, the Haption Virtuose Glove carried the top sticker at roughly $25,000 and the bHaptics TactSuit Pro the smallest at roughly $529, and two of the 13 had no published price.

Price the full capture rig

For animation or robot-teaching work, a glove is one part of a rig. Ask whether software licences are perpetual or renewed each year, whether each performer needs a separately sized glove, how sensors are recalibrated after cleaning or repair, and what a replacement glove costs. StretchSense lists two MoCap products on this page at very different prices, so ask the maker what the cheaper option leaves out before assuming it suits production work. The same question applies to the two Manus gloves listed here, which also sit at different price points.

What to look for

• Feedback type: vibration, force feedback or tracking only
• Tracking accuracy, and the engines and software it supports
• For bionic hands, how fitting works with your prosthetics clinic

Common questions

What is the difference between haptic and motion-capture gloves?

Motion-capture gloves record how your hands and fingers move. Haptic gloves add feedback, from light vibration to resistance that lets you feel the shape of a virtual object.

How are bionic hands usually bought?

Prosthetic hands are typically prescribed and fitted through a clinical prosthetics team. Compare options here, then request a quote and involve your clinician from the start.

Sources and further reading

• 21 CFR 890.3420 External limb prosthetic component — US Food and Drug Administration (eCFR).
  US classification of prosthetic components, including powered hands, as Class I devices under general controls.
• Skin-integrated wireless haptic interfaces for virtual and augmented reality — Nature.
  Research on thin, wireless, battery-free haptic actuators that deliver touch sensations through the skin.
• ISO 9241-910:2011 Framework for tactile and haptic interaction — International Organization for Standardization.
  Terms and models for designing and describing tactile and haptic interaction with interactive systems.