Plenty of researchers use robot hands to improve their models and experiment. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get one. Take the CR Hand for instance: it is a 6-DOF 5-finger robot hand with 6 motors and 13 joints. It is capable of pinching and grasping. Since it has sprint-loaded joints, it won’t get damaged by collisions.
This robot hand features detachable fingertips to let you experiment with various sensors. All the motors and control board are in a compact body. The above video shows this robot hand in action. Since it has a life-sized design, this hand can be used to simulate real-world tasks.