# Boston Dynamics unveils dexterous hand for next-gen Atlas robot: 13-DOF four-finger design

- Source: Boston Dynamics
- Published: 2026-10-01T13:10:02.000Z
- RoboHot: https://robohot.news/en/items/ajvq617dekh8k2kf19718kb5z
- Original: https://bostondynamics.com/blog/robot-hands-for-modern-ai-and-real-work/

## Summary

Boston Dynamics has unveiled a dexterous hand for its next-generation Atlas humanoid robot, increasing from GR2's 7 degrees of freedom to 13, using a four-finger design with a 4-DOF opposable thumb, direct drive, and only a single actuator type. The design drops the pinky finger to reduce cost and complexity, is equipped with fingertip and palm pressure tactile sensors, supports pinch grasping, three-finger grasping, and pressing tool triggers, and was optimized for high-fidelity simulation for sim-to-real transfer and reinforcement learning, with preliminary sim-to-real results on dynamic tasks already available.

## Why it matters

The original article details the degrees of freedom, actuation, and simulation design tradeoffs of the next-generation Atlas dexterous hand, letting readers understand how the hand design serves reinforcement learning and real-world work.