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Spring 2026 GRASP SFI: Tom Zhang, Daxo Robotics, “From GRASP to Daxo: Rethinking Dexterity in Robotics”

April 22 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

This was a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance…

ABSTRACT

Dexterity remains one of the central unsolved problems in robotics. Many conventional robotic designs may be effective for narrow tasks but are fundamentally limited in the long run for building robots with truly general physical capability. This talk examines why Daxo Robotics has taken a different path: a high-dimensional tendon-driven architecture with 120 actuators in a single hand. It covers the reasoning behind this design, the engineering lessons from building it, and the broader view of robots as systems designed for learning, adaptation, and skill acquisition rather than only task-specific automation.
It also reflects on the transition from PhD research to startup building from the perspective of a Penn GRASP alumnus. Alongside the technical story is a discussion of entrepreneurship in robotics: the gap between prototypes and real systems, the tension between conviction and commercialization, and the challenge of building not just a technology, but an enduring company.

Presenter

Tom Zhang

Tom Zhang

Tom Zhang is the founder and CEO of Daxo Robotics, a company building highly dexterous robotic hands for physical intelligence. Daxo’s hand uses more than a hundred actuators in a single hand, making it the highest-dimensional robotic hands ever built, with demonstrated capabilities including real-time continuous handwriting and pen spinning. Tom studied Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at Cornell University and worked at iRobot, Uber ATG, and Rapyuta Robotics before pursuing a PhD in Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab. During his PhD, he began his entrepreneurial journey through agricultural robotics, and after graduation founded Daxo’s current effort focused on dexterous robotic hands.

Details

  • Date: April 22
  • Time:
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Event Category:

Venue

Levine 307
3330 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19104 United States + Google Map