RobotMe summary
Boston Dynamics redesigned Atlas’s hand around durability, repairability, and production rather than a humanlike silhouette. Its thumb and three fingers have 13 degrees of freedom in total, intended to support gripping and tool use with less mechanical complexity. The article explains the company’s design trade-offs; broad real-world reliability has yet to be demonstrated.
Boston Dynamics presents the redesigned Atlas hand as a balance of gripping ability with durability, repair and manufacturability. The reported 13 degrees of freedom describe the mechanism, not a measured success rate across factory tasks. The article does not establish long-term reliability in broad customer deployments.