Robotic hands: a $50 trillion opportunity

Are humanoid robots distracting us from the real unlock in robotics ... hands?

In this TechFirst episode, host John Koetsier digs into the hardest (and most valuable) problem in robotics: dexterous manipulation.

Guest Mike Obolonsky, Partner at Cortical Ventures, argues that about $50 trillion of global economic activity flows through “hands work,” yet manipulation startups have raised only a fraction of what locomotion and autonomy companies have.

We break down why hands are so hard (actuators, tactile sensing, proprioception, control, data) and what gets unlocked when we finally crack them.

What we'll talk through ...

• Why “navigation ≠ manipulation” and why most real-world jobs need hands

• The funding mismatch: billions to autonomy & humanoids vs. comparatively little to hands

• The tech stack for dexterity: actuators, tactile sensors (pressure, vibration, shear), feedback, and AI

• Grasping vs. manipulation: picking, placing, using tools (e.g., dishwashers to scalpels)

• Reliability in the wild: interventions/hour, wet/greasy plates, occlusions, bimanual dexterity

• Practical paths: task-specific grippers, modular end-effectors, and “good enough” today vs. general purpose tomorrow

• The moonshot: what 70–90% human-level hands could do for productivity on Earth ... and off-planet

Chapters

00:00 Intro—are we underinvesting in robotic hands?

01:10 Why hands matter more than legs (economics of manipulation)

04:30 Funding realities: autonomy & humanoids vs. hands

08:40 Locomotion progress vs. manipulation bottlenecks

12:10 Teleop now, autonomy later—how data gets gathered

14:20 What’s missing: actuators, tactile sensing, proprioception

17:10 Perception limits in the real world (wet dishes, occlusions)

22:00 General-purpose dexterity vs. task-specific ROI

26:00 Startup landscape & reliability (interventions/hour)

29:00 Modular end-effectors and upgrade paths

30:10 The moonshot: productivity explosion when hands are solved

Who should watch

Robotics founders, VCs, AI researchers, operators in warehousing & manufacturing, and anyone tracking humanoids beyond the hype.

If you enjoyed this

Subscribe for more deep-tech conversations, drop a comment with your take on the “hands vs. legs” debate, and share with someone building robots.

Keywords

robotic hands, dexterous manipulation, humanoid robots, tactile sensing, actuators, proprioception, warehouse automation, AI robotics, Cortical Ventures, TechFirst, John Koetsier, Mike Obolonsky

#Robotics #AI #Humanoids #RobotHands #Manipulation #Automation #TechFirst