Proception growth playbook

Render the product pages on the server (the site already runs on Next.js, so static generation is a configuration change, not a rebuild). Each page should carry, in plain HTML: the product name and generation, a spec table (degrees of freedom, weight, grip force, tactile sensing, interfaces, SDK languages, sim formats), what's in the box, lead time, a "from" price or price band, and a "Request a quote" link that works without JavaScript (with an email fallback to the published contact address). Add a unique title, meta description and share image per page, Product structured data, a sitemap.xml listing the product, developer, roadmap, news and careers URLs, and a robots.txt that points to it. The upside: when a researcher pastes the link to their PI, or asks an assistant which dexterous hands have tactile sensing, Proception's own Gen 2 page answers instead of a Gen 1 directory entry.

Hardware buyers shortlist on specs, SDK and price before they talk to anyone, and they share links internally to get budget. A page that is readable everywhere turns each of those shares and searches into a qualified quote request.

[ ] H1 with product name and generation in the HTML
[ ] Spec table: DoF, weight, grip, tactile sensing, interfaces
[ ] SDK languages and sim formats (MJCF, URDF, USD)
[ ] What's in the box and lead time
[ ] "From" price or price band
[ ] Request a quote link that works without JavaScript
[ ] Unique title, meta description and share image
[ ] Product structured data
[ ] sitemap.xml and robots.txt
[ ] Link preview checked in Slack, LinkedIn and X

• Publishing a price anchors buyers too high or too low

  Start with a "from" price for a single hand and quote configurations.

• Specs change between generations

  Date the spec table and keep Gen 1 on its own page.

• Your websiteProduct and contact pages (checked November 9, 2026, the Hand 2.0 page and /contact fetched twice): /product/pro-hand/gen2 ("Proception Hand 2.0"), /product/pro-glove/gen2 ("Proception Glove 2.0") and /product/pro-hand/gen1 serve only the page title, navigation and footer in their HTML, with no specs, price, quote button or meta description; /contact serves only "Loading page"; /sitemap.xml and /robots.txt return 404.Source
• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• PressLaunch YC post: "The hand that enables robots. The glove that teaches them." ProHand 1.0 was designed with hand surgeons, supports standard teleoperation workflows and is tendon-driven, impact-tolerant and serviceable; ProGlove uses the same sensor skin so people can capture manipulation data without a robot; it is aimed at researchers and robotics companies, and readers are asked to order ProHand through the company website.Source
• Third-party listinghumanoid.guide ProHand 1.0 listing: "22,000 USD", "In production", 22 DoF, 5 fingers, 20 kg grip, 0.58 kg, a Hand Score of 7/10 and its own inquiry form; its manufacturer link points to /product/pro-hand/gen1 (Gen 1). Hands listed nearby include Agile Robots' Agile Hand at 14,000 USD and Prensilia's IH2 Azzurra at 5,300 USD.Source
• Industry researchTrossen Robotics' 2026 guide to choosing a robot hand: buyers weigh degrees of freedom, price (human-like hands sit in a $5,000-$100,000+ tier), a documented SDK or API, ROS compatibility, support, tactile sensing and grip strength; it discusses Shadow, Inspire and Psyonic hands and does not mention Proception.See the research Source

Make /contact a short quote request: product (Hand, Glove, both), quantity and left/right, the arm or humanoid it mounts on, use (research, teleoperation, data collection, product), organisation type (lab or company), timeline and budget stage. Prefill the product from the page the visitor came from, send an instant reply with the datasheet and typical lead time, and route lab and company requests to different follow-ups.

Qualifying questions shorten the first call and let a small team answer the most valuable requests first. The instant datasheet keeps evaluators moving while they wait.

• Longer form lowers inquiries

  Keep it to seven fields and make budget optional.

• Your websiteProduct and contact pages (checked November 9, 2026, the Hand 2.0 page and /contact fetched twice): /product/pro-hand/gen2 ("Proception Hand 2.0"), /product/pro-glove/gen2 ("Proception Glove 2.0") and /product/pro-hand/gen1 serve only the page title, navigation and footer in their HTML, with no specs, price, quote button or meta description; /contact serves only "Loading page"; /sitemap.xml and /robots.txt return 404.Source
• Your websiteHomepage: H1 "Advanced humanoid hands", subhead "Human-level dexterity." and "Dexterous robotic hands and motion capture gloves for research, teleoperation, and real-world manipulation."; buttons "Explore products" (#products) and "Talk to our team" (/contact); "Backed by Y Combinator"; Mountain View, CA. The page text served has no product names, specs, prices or order button.Source
• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source

Contact the directory with Gen 2 specs, a confirmed price or band, photos and the new product URL, and ask for the Gen 1 entry to link to Gen 2. Do the same for every other directory and market report that lists the hand, and keep one public spec source (idea 5) they can all copy from.

Directories rank well for comparison searches and are what buyers screenshot for procurement. Correct numbers and a direct link remove one step and one outdated price from the path.

• Directory keeps the inquiry form between buyer and company

  Ask that inquiries forward to Proception and add a direct link.

• Third-party listinghumanoid.guide ProHand 1.0 listing: "22,000 USD", "In production", 22 DoF, 5 fingers, 20 kg grip, 0.58 kg, a Hand Score of 7/10 and its own inquiry form; its manufacturer link points to /product/pro-hand/gen1 (Gen 1). Hands listed nearby include Agile Robots' Agile Hand at 14,000 USD and Prensilia's IH2 Azzurra at 5,300 USD.Source
• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• PressTechCrunch, June 29, 2026: an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital with Y Combinator and BoxGroup; the hand has 22 degrees of freedom with multiple joints per finger and a glove-based sensor "skin"; testers wear the glove and a headset to record hand interactions without a robot; first shipments went to researchers and robotics companies and wider orders are opening; the goal is to be the leading hand supplier for companies that don't want to build dexterous manipulation in-house. Pricing was not disclosed.Source

Serve the hero hand image as a properly sized AVIF/WebP with explicit width and height, preload it, lazy-load everything below the fold, compress or stream any video, set long cache lifetimes for static assets, and reserve space for content that loads late (the products section and any embedded media) so nothing jumps.

Fixing CLS moves the site to passing Core Web Vitals for real visitors, and a page a tenth of the size loads on conference Wi-Fi and phones.

• Lower image quality hurts a visual product

  Compare compressed and original on a retina screen before shipping.

• PageSpeedHomepage, Google PageSpeed (November 9, 2026): mobile performance 70 (desktop 97); lab LCP 15.0s on a phone, with the hero hand image as the largest element; the page downloads 20.1 MB, with about 9.0 MB of possible image savings and 11.5 MB from cache lifetimes. Real visitors (Chrome UX Report, p75): LCP 1.76s and INP 82ms pass, but CLS is 0.20, above the 0.1 "good" limit.Source

Publish a public, dated, two-page PDF and HTML datasheet for each Gen 2 product: dimensions, weight, DoF and joint layout, grip force, speed, tactile sensing resolution, interfaces and protocols, SDK languages, sim formats, compute requirements, power, mounting, warranty and lead time. Keep deep integration docs behind the login, and link the datasheet from every product page, the quote auto-reply and directory listings.

A datasheet is what engineers forward and procurement files. Making it public removes the step where a buyer must register before knowing whether the hand fits.

• Competitors copy the specs

  Specs are public in directories already; keep integration know-how gated.

• #1 Put the Hand 2.0 and Glove 2.0 specs, a starting price and a quote button into the product pages' HTML, and add a sitemap

• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• Industry researchTrossen Robotics' 2026 guide to choosing a robot hand: buyers weigh degrees of freedom, price (human-like hands sit in a $5,000-$100,000+ tier), a documented SDK or API, ROS compatibility, support, tactile sensing and grip strength; it discusses Shadow, Inspire and Psyonic hands and does not mention Proception.See the research Source
• Third-party listinghumanoid.guide ProHand 1.0 listing: "22,000 USD", "In production", 22 DoF, 5 fingers, 20 kg grip, 0.58 kg, a Hand Score of 7/10 and its own inquiry form; its manufacturer link points to /product/pro-hand/gen1 (Gen 1). Hands listed nearby include Agile Robots' Agile Hand at 14,000 USD and Prensilia's IH2 Azzurra at 5,300 USD.Source

Publish server-rendered news posts: the seed round (linking to TechCrunch), the Launch YC post, "Gen 2 is shipping" with what changed from Gen 1, and the white paper. Add an "As seen in" strip to the homepage and a monthly shipping update, and connect the newsletter signup to an actual monthly email.

Buyers of new hardware from a young company look for signs it will still be there next year. Recent funding and shipping news answers that question in seconds.

• The newsroom goes quiet again

  Commit to one post a month, even a short shipping update.

• Your websiteNews and careers pages: the newsroom promises "Announcements, press and customer stories from Proception" with a newsletter signup, but the page served lists no stories; the careers page has an "Open roles" heading with no roles listed. The site has no case studies or testimonials.Source
• PressTechCrunch, June 29, 2026: an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital with Y Combinator and BoxGroup; the hand has 22 degrees of freedom with multiple joints per finger and a glove-based sensor "skin"; testers wear the glove and a headset to record hand interactions without a robot; first shipments went to researchers and robotics companies and wider orders are opening; the goal is to be the leading hand supplier for companies that don't want to build dexterous manipulation in-house. Pricing was not disclosed.Source
• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source

List every open role in the page's HTML, linking to the YC job post, with a line on what the team is building and how many hands it has shipped. Add a "we're scaling production" line to the product pages for buyers asking about lead times.

Visible hiring fills roles faster and reassures buyers that production is growing.

• Stale listings after hiring

  Pull roles from the job board automatically.

• HiringRobotics Technician (Assembly & Testing) on the YC job board, open on November 9, 2026: contract, $25-$35 an hour, Palo Alto; assembles the mechanical, electrical and cable/tendon subsystems of the hands, tests and calibrates them, maintains build documentation and supports "prototype builds and small production runs". YC lists a team of 10.Source
• Your websiteNews and careers pages: the newsroom promises "Announcements, press and customer stories from Proception" with a newsletter signup, but the page served lists no stories; the careers page has an "Open roles" heading with no roles listed. The site has no case studies or testimonials.Source
• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source

Publish the Gen 2 hand models and the MuJoCo quickstart in a public repository with a permissive licence for research, plus a short "grasp in five minutes" notebook. Gate only the hardware SDK. Ask for an email to download a bonus pack (bimanual scene, sample glove trajectories) so evaluations become leads.

A model in a researcher's sim is a hand they have already integrated, which makes the hardware the natural next step and gives Proception early visibility into which labs are evaluating it.

• Rivals study the design

  Publish kinematics, not manufacturing details.

• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• PressLaunch YC post: "The hand that enables robots. The glove that teaches them." ProHand 1.0 was designed with hand surgeons, supports standard teleoperation workflows and is tendon-driven, impact-tolerant and serviceable; ProGlove uses the same sensor skin so people can capture manipulation data without a robot; it is aimed at researchers and robotics companies, and readers are asked to order ProHand through the company website.Source

Write a guide on Proception's site: a table of current hands (DoF, actuation, tactile sensing, weight, SDK, sim formats, matching glove, price band where public), when each fits, and where Proception is and isn't the right choice. Source every competitor fact from their own pages, date it, and refresh it quarterly. Pitch it to the authors of existing guides as a source.

Comparison searches are the most purchase-ready traffic, and an even-handed table earns links and gets quoted by AI assistants.

• Claims about rivals go stale or are disputed

  Cite and date every fact; fix errors fast.

• #1 Put the Hand 2.0 and Glove 2.0 specs, a starting price and a quote button into the product pages' HTML, and add a sitemap

• Industry researchTrossen Robotics' 2026 guide to choosing a robot hand: buyers weigh degrees of freedom, price (human-like hands sit in a $5,000-$100,000+ tier), a documented SDK or API, ROS compatibility, support, tactile sensing and grip strength; it discusses Shadow, Inspire and Psyonic hands and does not mention Proception.See the research Source
• Competitor researchRivals' own homepages: Shadow Robot sells the Dexterous Hand (20 DoF), DEX-EE and teleoperation with the Shadow Glove, built to order, with "Contact us" for pricing and demos, a distributors page and robots for hire; Wonik's Allegro Hand offers six models (V6 V, V6 F, V5 Sense, V5 Plus, V5, V4) through an inquiry form and a sales network; MANUS sells Metagloves Pro for robot learning through resellers. None shows a price.See the research Source

Create a /research page: academic pricing or a bundle, a short application (lab, project, timeline, grant status), priority support, a joint-validation offer and a list of partner labs that agree to be named. Time outreach to grant and fiscal-year deadlines, and give labs a ready procurement pack (quote template, datasheet, sole-source justification draft).

Labs are where dexterous-manipulation methods are invented and where future industry buyers are trained, and procurement help removes the slowest step in an academic purchase.

• Academic discounts erode margin with small production runs

  Cap program slots per quarter.

• #5 Publish a one-page Hand 2.0 and Glove 2.0 datasheet without a login

• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source
• PressGunderson Dettmer, June 29, 2026: Proception already ships a 22-degree-of-freedom hand to robotics companies and research labs, and will use the seed money to develop its hands and its "human-hand interaction data platform".Source

Give every customer a citation kit (a BibTeX entry for the white paper, a hardware description paragraph, logo and photo guidelines), ask to be told about papers and videos, and publish a "built with Proception" gallery with links. Offer a small thank-you (extended warranty or spare finger kit) for each published work that cites the hand.

Researchers copy each other's setups. A gallery of real results shows what the hand can do better than any marketing claim, and every citation is a link from a trusted source.

• Few papers in the first months

  Include demos, preprints and workshop posters.

• Your websiteNews and careers pages: the newsroom promises "Announcements, press and customer stories from Proception" with a newsletter signup, but the page served lists no stories; the careers page has an "Open roles" heading with no roles listed. The site has no case studies or testimonials.Source
• PressGunderson Dettmer, June 29, 2026: Proception already ships a 22-degree-of-freedom hand to robotics companies and research labs, and will use the seed money to develop its hands and its "human-hand interaction data platform".Source
• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source

Package a Data Collection Kit: two gloves, the headset setup, capture software and export to common robot-learning formats, plus a retargeting guide to popular hands (Proception's first). Sell it as its own line with a page, a price band and a sample dataset, and offer upgrade credit toward a hand.

It reaches buyers who aren't ready for a hand, earns revenue from the platform the roadmap already plans, and every kit produces data in the shape Proception's hand understands best.

• Competes with established gloves

  Lead with the matched hand and tactile skin, which glove-only makers lack.

• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source
• PressGunderson Dettmer, June 29, 2026: Proception already ships a 22-degree-of-freedom hand to robotics companies and research labs, and will use the seed money to develop its hands and its "human-hand interaction data platform".Source
• Competitor researchRivals' own homepages: Shadow Robot sells the Dexterous Hand (20 DoF), DEX-EE and teleoperation with the Shadow Glove, built to order, with "Contact us" for pricing and demos, a distributors page and robots for hire; Wonik's Allegro Hand offers six models (V6 V, V6 F, V5 Sense, V5 Plus, V5, V4) through an inquiry form and a sales network; MANUS sells Metagloves Pro for robot learning through resellers. None shows a price.See the research Source

Define a bundle with one SKU and one quoted price: left and right Gen 2 hands, two gloves, mounting adapters, the teleoperation software and a remote onboarding session. Show it on the product pages as the recommended setup for teleoperation and data collection, alongside single-hand options.

Bundles raise order value and shorten the sale because the buyer approves one line item, and matched hands and gloves are exactly what single-product rivals can't offer.

• Production can't keep up with pairs

  Publish lead times and cap bundle slots per batch.

• #2 Turn the contact form into a hardware quote request that qualifies the buyer

• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• PressLaunch YC post: "The hand that enables robots. The glove that teaches them." ProHand 1.0 was designed with hand surgeons, supports standard teleoperation workflows and is tendon-driven, impact-tolerant and serviceable; ProGlove uses the same sensor skin so people can capture manipulation data without a robot; it is aimed at researchers and robotics companies, and readers are asked to order ProHand through the company website.Source
• HiringRobotics Technician (Assembly & Testing) on the YC job board, open on November 9, 2026: contract, $25-$35 an hour, Palo Alto; assembles the mechanical, electrical and cable/tendon subsystems of the hands, tests and calibrates them, maintains build documentation and supports "prototype builds and small production runs". YC lists a team of 10.Source

Email every Gen 1 owner with what changed, a trade-in or upgrade credit, priority on the next production run and an offer of a joint write-up or video. Keep Gen 1 supported (SDK, spares) for a published period so nobody feels stranded.

Early adopters who feel looked after become references and repeat buyers. Trade-ins also return units for refurbishment, loaners or rentals (idea 17).

• Owners feel Gen 1 was obsolete too soon

  Lead with continued support and the credit.

• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• PressTechCrunch, June 29, 2026: an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital with Y Combinator and BoxGroup; the hand has 22 degrees of freedom with multiple joints per finger and a glove-based sensor "skin"; testers wear the glove and a headset to record hand interactions without a robot; first shipments went to researchers and robotics companies and wider orders are opening; the goal is to be the leading hand supplier for companies that don't want to build dexterous manipulation in-house. Pricing was not disclosed.Source
• Your websiteNews and careers pages: the newsroom promises "Announcements, press and customer stories from Proception" with a newsletter signup, but the page served lists no stories; the careers page has an "Open roles" heading with no roles listed. The site has no case studies or testimonials.Source

Every week, film one real task in one continuous take (pick a coin, turn a key, fold a cloth, use a tool), with the speed shown, whether it is teleoperated or autonomous, and a link to the datasheet. Clip it for LinkedIn and X, and keep a public playlist that grows into a library of what the hand can do.

Honest, labelled, uncut clips build credibility with technical buyers and give researchers something to share, and the archive becomes proof for every sales conversation.

• Failures on camera

  Show retries honestly; it builds trust with engineers.

• SocialChannels: YouTube @ProceptionAI has 120 subscribers, 8 videos and 7,943 total views; LinkedIn and X are linked from the footer; the site runs Google Analytics through Tag Manager and has no live chat and no pricing page.Source
• Industry researchTrossen Robotics' 2026 guide to choosing a robot hand: buyers weigh degrees of freedom, price (human-like hands sit in a $5,000-$100,000+ tier), a documented SDK or API, ROS compatibility, support, tactile sensing and grip strength; it discusses Shadow, Inspire and Psyonic hands and does not mention Proception.See the research Source

Ask current customers which arms they mount the hand on, then publish a public page per arm: mechanical adapter, wiring, control setup and a short video. Sell the adapters as accessories, and offer each arm maker a co-marketing post when the guide is published.

Arm-specific pages match how buyers search ("dexterous hand for <arm>") and turn arm makers' communities into a channel.

• Support load across many arms

  Officially support three; mark others community-tested.

• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• Industry researchTrossen Robotics' 2026 guide to choosing a robot hand: buyers weigh degrees of freedom, price (human-like hands sit in a $5,000-$100,000+ tier), a documented SDK or API, ROS compatibility, support, tactile sensing and grip strength; it discusses Shadow, Inspire and Psyonic hands and does not mention Proception.See the research Source

Pick two regions where inbound interest already comes from, sign a distributor in each with demo units and agreed margins, list them on a /distributors page, and route quote requests by country.

Distributors bring existing lab relationships and procurement accounts, extending reach without hiring a sales team.

• Distributors don't prioritise a new brand

  Pick ones without a competing dexterous hand.

• Competitor researchRivals' own homepages: Shadow Robot sells the Dexterous Hand (20 DoF), DEX-EE and teleoperation with the Shadow Glove, built to order, with "Contact us" for pricing and demos, a distributors page and robots for hire; Wonik's Allegro Hand offers six models (V6 V, V6 F, V5 Sense, V5 Plus, V5, V4) through an inquiry form and a sales network; MANUS sells Metagloves Pro for robot learning through resellers. None shows a price.See the research Source
• HiringRobotics Technician (Assembly & Testing) on the YC job board, open on November 9, 2026: contract, $25-$35 an hour, Palo Alto; assembles the mechanical, electrical and cable/tendon subsystems of the hands, tests and calibrates them, maintains build documentation and supports "prototype builds and small production runs". YC lists a team of 10.Source

Publish the SDK packages through the usual package managers, a public changelog page with dated releases, and a ROS 2 wrapper if customers use ROS. Show the latest version and release date on the developer page, and let unregistered visitors read the getting-started guide.

A visible, versioned SDK is evidence of a maintained product, and package-manager installs are a measurable signal of evaluation.

• Support requests from people without hardware

  Point them to the sim models and community forum.

• Your websiteDeveloper page: Proception Hand Gen 2 is the "latest production release (Oct 2026)", alongside Proception Glove Gen 2; "Start here" links to simulation models, the SDK overview and a MuJoCo quickstart; "SDKs & Software" downloads are "Coming soon"; documentation "is only available to registered users" and covers Python, C++, Rust and Android clients, MJCF, URDF and USD models, Isaac Sim, real-time control and robot integration.Source
• Industry researchTrossen Robotics' 2026 guide to choosing a robot hand: buyers weigh degrees of freedom, price (human-like hands sit in a $5,000-$100,000+ tier), a documented SDK or API, ROS compatibility, support, tactile sensing and grip strength; it discusses Shadow, Inspire and Psyonic hands and does not mention Proception.See the research Source

Offer a semester rental (hand plus glove, SDK access, remote onboarding) with a rent-to-own credit. Use refurbished Gen 1 trade-ins and a small dedicated fleet, inspected by the assembly team between rentals. Publish the rental terms on the research page.

Rentals open budgets that can't buy outright, put the hand into more papers sooner and convert to sales when the project works.

• Damage and downtime

  Deposit, insurance and a serviceable design.

• #8 Launch a research lab program: academic pricing, a short application and a public list of partner labs
• #13 Give first-batch Gen 1 owners an upgrade path to Gen 2, and ask for a story in return

• Industry researchTrossen Robotics' 2026 guide to choosing a robot hand: buyers weigh degrees of freedom, price (human-like hands sit in a $5,000-$100,000+ tier), a documented SDK or API, ROS compatibility, support, tactile sensing and grip strength; it discusses Shadow, Inspire and Psyonic hands and does not mention Proception.See the research Source
• Third-party listinghumanoid.guide ProHand 1.0 listing: "22,000 USD", "In production", 22 DoF, 5 fingers, 20 kg grip, 0.58 kg, a Hand Score of 7/10 and its own inquiry form; its manufacturer link points to /product/pro-hand/gen1 (Gen 1). Hands listed nearby include Agile Robots' Agile Hand at 14,000 USD and Prensilia's IH2 Azzurra at 5,300 USD.Source
• Competitor researchRivals' own homepages: Shadow Robot sells the Dexterous Hand (20 DoF), DEX-EE and teleoperation with the Shadow Glove, built to order, with "Contact us" for pricing and demos, a distributors page and robots for hire; Wonik's Allegro Hand offers six models (V6 V, V6 F, V5 Sense, V5 Plus, V5, V4) through an inquiry form and a sales network; MANUS sells Metagloves Pro for robot learning through resellers. None shows a price.See the research Source
• PressLaunch YC post: "The hand that enables robots. The glove that teaches them." ProHand 1.0 was designed with hand surgeons, supports standard teleoperation workflows and is tendon-driven, impact-tolerant and serviceable; ProGlove uses the same sensor skin so people can capture manipulation data without a robot; it is aimed at researchers and robotics companies, and readers are asked to order ProHand through the company website.Source

Publish a research-licensed dataset of everyday manipulation tasks recorded with the glove (tactile, joint angles and video), with a retargeting script to the Proception hand in simulation and a leaderboard of baseline policies. Keep the full commercial dataset and capture service as paid offerings.

Open datasets get cited for years, train researchers on Proception's data format and lead them to the glove that produced it and the hand it retargets to best.

• Gives away the data advantage

  Release a sample; keep scale and custom capture paid.

• #6 Let researchers try the hand in simulation before they buy: public MJCF, URDF and USD models

• PressTechCrunch, June 29, 2026: an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital with Y Combinator and BoxGroup; the hand has 22 degrees of freedom with multiple joints per finger and a glove-based sensor "skin"; testers wear the glove and a headset to record hand interactions without a robot; first shipments went to researchers and robotics companies and wider orders are opening; the goal is to be the leading hand supplier for companies that don't want to build dexterous manipulation in-house. Pricing was not disclosed.Source
• PressGunderson Dettmer, June 29, 2026: Proception already ships a 22-degree-of-freedom hand to robotics companies and research labs, and will use the seed money to develop its hands and its "human-hand interaction data platform".Source
• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source

Create a /humanoid page for robot makers: integration envelope, wrist interface, weight and power budget, durability testing, volume roadmap and support terms. Offer three paid design-partner slots with custom mounting, priority supply and joint engineering reviews, and turn each into a public case study when the partner agrees.

A design-in locks in volume for a product generation and is the proof every later humanoid buyer will ask for.

• Small production runs can't meet partner volume

  Tie the capacity plan to signed partners.

• Partners later build in-house

  Multi-generation agreements with roadmap access.

• #5 Publish a one-page Hand 2.0 and Glove 2.0 datasheet without a login

• PressTechCrunch, June 29, 2026: an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital with Y Combinator and BoxGroup; the hand has 22 degrees of freedom with multiple joints per finger and a glove-based sensor "skin"; testers wear the glove and a headset to record hand interactions without a robot; first shipments went to researchers and robotics companies and wider orders are opening; the goal is to be the leading hand supplier for companies that don't want to build dexterous manipulation in-house. Pricing was not disclosed.Source
• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source
• HiringRobotics Technician (Assembly & Testing) on the YC job board, open on November 9, 2026: contract, $25-$35 an hour, Palo Alto; assembles the mechanical, electrical and cable/tendon subsystems of the hands, tests and calibrates them, maintains build documentation and supports "prototype builds and small production runs". YC lists a team of 10.Source

Write a page and a short technical note for biomechanics and rehabilitation research labs: how the glove's joint and tactile data compare with lab motion capture, and how the hand can reproduce recorded human motion for experiments. Present a poster at one biomechanics or rehabilitation-robotics conference and offer the research program terms.

It opens a research market where few robot-hand makers compete, and builds the healthcare credibility the 2027 roadmap needs.

• Medical claims

  Position strictly as research equipment, not a medical device.

• #8 Launch a research lab program: academic pricing, a short application and a public list of partner labs

• PressLaunch YC post: "The hand that enables robots. The glove that teaches them." ProHand 1.0 was designed with hand surgeons, supports standard teleoperation workflows and is tendon-driven, impact-tolerant and serviceable; ProGlove uses the same sensor skin so people can capture manipulation data without a robot; it is aimed at researchers and robotics companies, and readers are asked to order ProHand through the company website.Source
• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source

Publish the Dexterity Levels as an open benchmark: a list of standard objects and tasks per level, a scoring protocol and video rules. Score Proception's hand first, invite labs and other makers to submit, and keep a public leaderboard. Hand the benchmark to an academic committee once it has traction.

Whoever defines the measuring stick shapes the conversation, and a benchmark built around contact-rich tasks plays to a tactile, high-DoF hand's strengths.

• Seen as rigged

  Open protocol, independent committee, publish failures.

• Your websiteRoadmap ("Master Plan", 2025-2028): Stage 1, a 20+ DoF tendon-driven hand with skin sensors, "Collaborate with research labs for validation"; Stage 2 (2026), "Scale Manufacturing and Launch Data Collection Platform" with a glove-plus-vision capture system; Stage 3 (2027), a humanoid prototype and industry-specific dexterity (e.g. healthcare); Stage 4 (2028), enterprise partnerships and service contracts. Dexterity targets run from "Level 2 (Toddler)" to "Level 4 (Adolescence)". Links to a white paper PDF and /contact?subject=collaboration.Source
• Third-party listinghumanoid.guide ProHand 1.0 listing: "22,000 USD", "In production", 22 DoF, 5 fingers, 20 kg grip, 0.58 kg, a Hand Score of 7/10 and its own inquiry form; its manufacturer link points to /product/pro-hand/gen1 (Gen 1). Hands listed nearby include Agile Robots' Agile Hand at 14,000 USD and Prensilia's IH2 Azzurra at 5,300 USD.Source