[ccooffee]

Aside: does the phrase "grasping hand" have a particular meaning in robotics jargon? (Or is there a different reason to avoid that terminology?)

To me a "gripping hand" is intuitively something that continuously holds an item. It might require human intervention to work, such as positioning my camera onto a universal tripod mount. A "grasping hand" (or "grabbing hand") would be something that transitions from empty-handed to holding an item.

[r2_pilot]

In this case the GP is making a reference to "The Mote in God's Eye". An alien species has 2 hands that are similar to humans, but they also have a 3rd arm, which leads them to say, paraphrased, "on the one hand, on the other hand, on the gripping hand" since it's strongest.