Boston Dynamics has given its Atlas humanoid a four-finger hand with 13 degrees of freedom (DOF), designed to do more than grab an object: it is intended to manipulate objects after grasping them and operate tools. The design has four DOF in its opposable thumb and three in each of the other fingers. The company says it chose not to add a fifth finger to limit complexity and engineering costs.
What changed in Atlas’s new hand?
The new hand has four fingers and 13 DOF, compared with the previous Atlas hand’s seven DOF. Boston Dynamics describes the earlier design as intended to grasp a wide variety of objects; the new one is aimed at more dexterous manipulation once an object is in the hand. These are the company’s descriptions, not results from a published controlled comparison with other robot hands.
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| Design detail | Previous Atlas hand | New Atlas hand |
|---|---|---|
| Finger count | Three, Boston Dynamics | Four, Boston Dynamics |
| Degrees of freedom | Seven, Boston Dynamics | 13, Boston Dynamics |
| Stated purpose | Grasping a wide variety of objects, Boston Dynamics | Manipulating objects after grasping them, Boston Dynamics |
| Joint layout | Not stated by Boston Dynamics | Four DOF in the thumb and three in each other finger, Boston Dynamics |
Boston Dynamics says the joints are directly actuated, the actuators are encapsulated rather than connected by fragile cables crossing the joints, and pressure tactile sensors cover the fingertips and palm. The company’s design rationale is that those actuation and transmission characteristics can support force regulation and high-fidelity simulation for reinforcement learning and sim-to-real transfer. The available sources do not provide an independent benchmark of its simulation accuracy or performance against competing hands. Boston Dynamics’ explanation of the hand gives its design details and intended behaviors.
What can the four-finger hand do?
The added movement is intended to support specific actions that demand control after the initial grasp, including:
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- Move the thumb along and across the other fingers.
- Pinch between the thumb and any of the other fingers, or make a three-point, or tripodal, grasp.
- Recover when an object starts slipping and reposition it within the hand.
- Hold a tool while pressing its trigger.
An October 2, 2026 report by Aju Press says the launch video showed Atlas loading a bit into a power drill, boring into wood, tightening a small nut with its fingertips, and swinging a frying pan. Those are demonstrations shown in a video; they do not establish that the hand can perform these tasks unsupervised across factory conditions. Aju Press’s report on the demonstrations describes the footage and factory context.
Why did Boston Dynamics leave off the pinky?
Boston Dynamics frames hand design as a balance among dexterity, strength, ruggedness, cost, repairability, sensing, and manufacturability. The company says it concluded that the extra capability of a fifth finger did not justify three additional DOF and their associated actuators, complexity, size, power consumption, and potential failure points. That is the company’s rationale for this design, not a rule that applies to every robot hand.
To explain the decision, the company recounts an experiment in which a team member taped his pinky to the next finger for a day at CTO Zack Jackowski’s request. Its account concludes: “At the end of the experiment we had agreement: no pinky.”
How does the hand fit into Atlas’s industrial plans?
The 13 DOF figure refers to the hand alone. Hyundai Motor Group’s January 6, 2026 strategy release lists 56 DOF and a lift capacity of up to 110 lb (50 kg) for the Atlas platform as a whole; those are platform-level figures, not specifications for the hand.
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Hyundai calls Atlas a humanoid platform designed for industrial applications and says it is in development. Its stated target uses include material sequencing, assembly, and machine tending. The company plans to introduce Atlas to processes with validated safety and quality benefits beginning in 2028, move to component assembly by 2030, and expand further as performance is validated. These are plans, not completed deployments. Hyundai’s January 2026 robotics strategy sets out those applications and timelines.
Aju Press reported on October 2, 2026 that Atlas was training at Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics Metaplant Application Center near Savannah, Georgia, and relayed a planned 25,000-robot rollout across Hyundai and Kia plants over the following years. That figure is a reported corporate plan, not an achieved order or deployed fleet, and it is not independently confirmed by Hyundai’s cited strategy release.
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What the announcement does—and does not—establish
The new hand is a hardware change intended to improve dexterity for physical work and tool use, rather than to make Atlas look more human. The company’s specifications and video demonstrations show its stated design and examples of operation. They do not establish broad production deployment, public availability for purchase, or independently measured superiority over other robot hands.
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