Boston Dynamics gives Atlas 13-DOF directly actuated hands
Fewer, bigger fingers on direct drive, the opposite bet from the tendon-driven hands everyone else is shipping.
Boston Dynamics announced new hands for Atlas with 13 degrees of freedom. They are directly actuated, built for high fidelity simulation to enable sim-to-real RL (trained in simulation, then run on the real robot), and the company says they were designed from the ground up for dexterous physical work.
Alberto Rodriguez posted the announcement, framing the hands as having the strength to take on real work and the simplicity for mass manufacturing. Like the body, he said, the hands are designed with high fidelity simulation in mind. His sign-off was the part people quoted back at him. If you give dexterous hands to a robot, make them do dexterous things.
If you give dexterous hands to a robot, make them do dexterous things.
Direct drive, not tendons
The design choice is the story. Most of the dexterous hands shipping right now are tendon-driven, with cables running through the fingers to mimic human anatomy. Boston Dynamics went the other way and actuated the joints directly.
Chris Paxton, who has been working on end-to-end mobile manipulation himself, pointed out what that buys and what it costs. The hand is still capable of carrying a 100+ lb / 50 kg fridge, he wrote, and Boston Dynamics clearly got there in part by making the finger joints far larger than a human's and dropping a finger entirely. Fewer fingers, bigger joints, proven actuation.
Paxton was blunt about why that might be the right call. He said he is cautiously optimistic about the tendon-drive hands coming onto the market, but worries some of it is nerd-sniping, the clever idea that sounds great if only you can solve the hard parts. Boston Dynamics, he said, seems to just be building bigger and differently shaped fingers with much more proven direct-drive tech.
Shown versus claimed
What is public so far is the announcement, a blog post and a video. The 13 DOF count, the direct actuation and the sim-to-real design intent come from Boston Dynamics. The 50 kg fridge figure comes from Paxton reading the release, not from an independent test. Nobody outside the company has put these hands through a dexterity benchmark yet.
Boston Dynamics seems to just be building bigger/differently shaped fingers, with much more proven direct-drive tech