Unitree Dex5-S Is a 22-DoF Hand from $6,500
Unitree put a new dexterous hand on sale on September 21. Dex5-S is advertised at about human-hand size, with 22 degrees of freedom, and the English launch clip prices it from $6,500 before tax and shipping.
The YouTube description says all 22 joints support smooth backdrivability, and that each joint has limit impact-torque protection. Backdrivable here means an outside force can push the joint back through the drive, instead of the finger moving only when the motor commands it. Humanoids Daily’s write-up of the same announcement repeats the $6,500 floor and the 22-DoF claim, and notes a domestic starting price of 39,900 yuan in Chinese coverage.
The English post is short. Humanoids Daily says it had not found a dedicated Dex5-S technical page at the time of writing, and that 22 degrees of freedom does not by itself prove 22 independent actuators. Weight, grip force, and a delivery date were still open in that account.
IT Home, reporting the same day, prints a fuller sheet. According to that article, one hand measures 102 by 187 by 26 millimeters as a left-right pair, weighs about 620 grams, and uses an aluminum shell. It lists 22 motors, direct drive, backdrive, and dual encoders, plus a new roll joint on the little finger. Load is given as 2 kilograms maximum and 1 kilogram continuous. Supply is 15 to 65 volts on an XT30 connector, with 200 watts peak. A Pro version adds tactile sensing on top of the dual encoders. The standard sheet leaves touch blank.
The same IT Home piece says both versions can use 1000BASE-T1 Ethernet, USB, and high-speed RS-485. On the T1 Ethernet or USB path, the listed control rate goes up to 1000 hertz. The high-speed 485 path is listed at 50 hertz. In the gigabit configuration, IT Home says a palm camera can plug into the hand without a separate external cable run.
What the sheet does not settle
A parameter table is not a task log. The pages fetched here do not publish success rates or a test protocol for the bending-life line. IT Home describes the impact protection as a structure that shields the gears when a joint motor takes a hard hit. No torque limit is attached.
Humanoids Daily’s caution still stands next to the sheet: the English announcement is thin, and IT Home’s graphic is where the motor count, mass, and Pro-versus-standard split show up.
A Human’s Take
A priced hand with a motor count and a palm-camera port is more useful than another humanoid teaser. I want this one on a wrist, repeating a job, not posed against a black background. The $6,500 line only matters if the Pro’s touch and the standard’s blank tactile row show up as different behavior once someone other than Unitree is driving the fingers.
Until there’s a public task sheet, I’m treating Dex5-S as a component you can order, not as proof the little-finger roll earns its keep.