THE ROBOT REPORT

Boston Dynamics skips the pinkie on new four-finger hand for its Atlas robot

Boston Dynamics unveiled a new hand for its Atlas humanoid robot with four fingers and 13 degrees of freedom. The company says it left off the pinkie because the extra dexterity wasn't worth three more actuators and the added size, cost and power draw. Before finalizing the design, engineers taped their pinkie and ring fingers together for a day to see what they could no longer do.

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By the 806AI desk · Published · 1 min read

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Why this matters

For the 806

Atlas is being aimed at factory work — holding drills, grinders, nail guns and welding torches — and Boston Dynamics opened a training center at Hyundai's Georgia plant a week before this announcement. That's the kind of hands-on job plenty of folks around here do. But this is a company announcement about a hand design, not proof it works on a real production line, and nothing in it says where or when these robots go to work.

What we know

  • The new Atlas hand has four fingers and 13 degrees of freedom, with a four-DOF thumb and three DOF on each other finger.
  • Boston Dynamics says earlier Atlas hands had seven degrees of freedom and were built to grasp objects; this one is built to manipulate them.
  • The company says the hand can do in-hand reorientation, recover from a slipping grasp, and hold tools while pressing their triggers.
  • Chief product and technology officer Zachary Jackowski asked the team to tape their pinkie and ring fingers together for a day and report what they could not do.
  • Dense pressure sensors cover the fingertips and palm, and the actuators are encapsulated with no cables crossing joints.
  • A week earlier, Boston Dynamics opened its Robotics Metaplant Application Center at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia.

What we don't know

  • Only one authoritative outlet found so far — no second independent source yet.
  • Exact event date not confirmed — publicationDate used as the best-known date.
  • The price of the hand or of an Atlas robot is not stated.
  • How many Atlas units exist, or when mass manufacturing begins, is not stated.
  • Whether the hand performs as described outside the company's own tests and demonstrations is not stated.
  • What jobs or tasks Atlas will actually be assigned at the Hyundai plant is not stated.
  • Whether any of this reaches workplaces in Texas is not stated.

Sources

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