--- title: Grabette: an open system to record robot-manipulation data description: Grabette is an open-source, low-cost handheld gripper system (~490€ BOM) designed to record robot manipulation demonstrations without needing an actual robot.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/grabette-an-open-system-to-record-robot-manipulation-data-h8hju0i38 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Grabette: an open system to record robot-manipulation data | daily.dev og:description: Grabette is an open-source, low-cost handheld gripper system (~490€ BOM) designed to record robot manipulation demonstrations without needing an actual robot.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/grabette-an-open-system-to-record-robot-manipulation-data-h8hju0i38 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/h8hjU0I38.png og:image:alt: Grabette: an open system to record robot-manipulation data og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Grabette: an open system to record robot-manipulation data **[Hugging Face](https://daily.dev/sources/huggingface)** · 6 min read · 3 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Grabette is an open-source, low-cost handheld gripper system (~490€ BOM) designed to record robot manipulation demonstrations without needing an actual robot. It uses two cameras (fisheye + RGBD/depth) and an IMU to capture 6-DoF trajectories, then processes recordings automatically via a browser-based pipeline that runs SLAM, converts data to LeRobot format, and uploads datasets to the Hugging Face Hub. The companion Gripette (~120€) is the motorized gripper that executes learned policies on a robot arm. The project is fully open source (hardware CAD, software, pipeline) and robot-agnostic. The broader goal is to crowdsource a large, diverse manipulation dataset that any lab or individual can contribute to, lowering the barrier from 'I have a task' to 'I have a training-ready dataset.' ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is Grabette and how does it let you collect robot manipulation data without a robot? Grabette is an open-source handheld gripper system that records manipulation demonstrations using a human hand instead of a robot. It has a bill of materials cost around 490 euros and combines a wide fisheye camera for context, an RGBD camera for 6-DoF tracking, an IMU, and a gripper, recording synchronized data on a Raspberry Pi that gets converted into a LeRobot-format dataset via a browser-based pipeline. _Teams comparing data-collection approaches for robot learning can follow tooling releases like this on daily.dev._ ### What is Gripette and how does it relate to Grabette? Gripette is the motorized robotic gripper counterpart to Grabette, costing about 120 euros in bill of materials, built with a camera and two servomotors. It closes the loop by executing on a real or simulated robot arm the movements learned from demonstrations recorded with Grabette, sharing the same hardware design as its handheld sibling. _Developers assembling open robotics hardware stacks can keep track of companion tools like this via daily.dev._ ### What SLAM library does the Grabette processing pipeline use to verify recorded trajectories? The Grabette processing pipeline uses the RTAB-MAP library to perform SLAM and verify that a recorded trajectory is correct, checking for jumps or loss of tracking before converting the episode into LeRobot format. This step runs in a Hugging Face Space accessible directly from a browser, requiring no local installation. _Engineers building browser-based data pipelines for robotics can track releases like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Vine-inspired robotic gripper gently lifts heavy and fragile objects](https://daily.dev/posts/vine-inspired-robotic-gripper-gently-lifts-heavy-and-fragile-objects-h3adgkhms) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Vine-inspired robot fingers can reach out and grab someone](https://daily.dev/posts/vine-inspired-robot-fingers-can-reach-out-and-grab-someone-h4hrg0o0f) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Handle with care: Soft robot gripper picks ripe fruit without bruising](https://daily.dev/posts/handle-with-care-soft-robot-gripper-picks-ripe-fruit-without-bruising-zqsgelavp) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Robot Videos: Agility Robotics' Digit Drags a Couch](https://daily.dev/posts/robot-videos-agility-robotics-digit-drags-a-couch-brz7doevq) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#data-science](https://daily.dev/tags/data-science), [#hardware](https://daily.dev/tags/hardware), [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/grabette-an-open-system-to-record-robot-manipulation-data-h8hju0i38) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Grabette: an open system to record robot-manipulation data","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/grabette-an-open-system-to-record-robot-manipulation-data-h8hju0i38","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/grabette-an-open-system-to-record-robot-manipulation-data-h8hju0i38"},"datePublished":"2026-07-21T09:43:21.246Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:16:19.211Z","description":"Grabette is an open-source, low-cost handheld gripper system (~490€ BOM) designed to record robot manipulation demonstrations without needing an actual robot....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/01185cdb16c3693b127116f88001616a?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/01185cdb16c3693b127116f88001616a?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hugging Face","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hugging Face","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/f1f55c67d81a4330acf5b90b26b0c8e1","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/huggingface"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/grabette-an-open-system-to-record-robot-manipulation-data-h8hju0i38","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"data-science,hardware,robotics","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hugging Face","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/huggingface"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Grabette: an open system to record robot-manipulation data"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/grabette-an-open-system-to-record-robot-manipulation-data-h8hju0i38#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is Grabette and how does it let you collect robot manipulation data without a robot?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Grabette is an open-source handheld gripper system that records manipulation demonstrations using a human hand instead of a robot. 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