Boston Dynamics unveils new Atlas hands: 13-DoF directly actuated, built for high-fidelity simulation and sim-to-real RL

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Boston Dynamics redesigned the hands of its electric Atlas: 13 degrees of freedom, directly actuated, designed from the ground up for high-fidelity simulation enabling sim-to-real RL, plus dexterous physical work — rugged, mass-manufacturable and repairable at low cost, with a form factor close enough to a human hand to train from human demonstrations. The previous three-finger hand performed superhuman manipulation but was never designed for tens or hundreds of thousands of units. The design philosophy: hands are a ruthless tradeoff, and many current designs give up reliability and manufacturability. Atlas (1.9m/90kg/56 DoF/50kg instantaneous lift) is heading into real factory work for the modern AI era.