Boston Dynamics drops the pinky on Atlas's new hand to make it cheaper to build and repair

Boston Dynamics has redesigned the hand on its Atlas humanoid with a thumb and three fingers, 13 degrees of freedom and direct-drive actuators packed into the joints instead of tendons or cables, IEEE Spectrum reported from the company's blog.

Each actuator pack can be swapped as a single unit and can be back-driven so the hand yields on contact, choices the company said favour reliability, manufacturability and cost over a human-like look.

Alberto Rodriguez, who directs robot behavior at Boston Dynamics, said the aim is a hand that can use tools such as drills and welding torches, be simulated cleanly and be trained from human demonstrations, with a production target of 100,000 hands a year.