# Boston Dynamics' Atlas dexterous hand uses a four-finger, 13-DOF configuration and drops the pinky

- Source: OFweek Robotics
- Published: 2026-10-16T02:09:00.000Z
- RoboHot: https://robohot.news/en/items/gzgl2hso81x21cesshqvn85jb
- Original: https://robot.ofweek.com/2026-10/ART-8321201-8110-30707357.html

## Summary

Boston Dynamics has unveiled its next-generation Atlas dexterous hand design, featuring a four-finger configuration, 13 degrees of freedom, direct joint drive, and a single actuator for the whole hand, with dense pressure tactile sensors covering the fingertips and palm. The team once had members work a full day with their pinky and ring fingers bound as an experiment, concluding that in most cases the pinky provides only redundancy, and removing it reduces actuators, cabling, and failure points. During the same period, Atlas was training on part sequencing and material handling at Hyundai's Georgia robot metaplant application center, and the article also compares this with Tesla Optimus Gen 3's five-finger, 22-DOF humanlike approach.