Boston Dynamics has equipped its Atlas robot with a new three-fingered hand system featuring seven degrees of freedom. Thanks to tactile sensors and onboard cameras, the robot can now grasp objects better.
Boston Dynamics has taken a significant step in one of the most challenging areas—robotic hand design—by equipping its humanoid robot, Atlas, with a new three-fingered hand system. The US-based company continues to improve both the mobility and artificial intelligence capabilities of the robot it introduced 12 years ago. The current version is now structured very differently from the initial release.
In the company’s new video, the innovations in Atlas’s hand design are highlighted. Boston Dynamics engineers chose to develop a durable, reliable, and versatile gripper rather than a hand that perfectly mimics a human one. This approach allows Atlas to perform tasks like sorting, collecting, packaging, and carrying heavy loads more efficiently.
Alberto Rodriguez, Atlas’s director of robot behavior, stated that hands are one of the most complex components in humanoid robots, noting, “We have to put a lot of motion and sensing into a very small volume, so it’s a very challenging problem from a design perspective.”
Three-Fingered Hand with Seven Degrees of Freedom
Karl Price, Atlas’s mechanical engineer, explained that the second-generation three-fingered hand system has seven degrees of freedom and seven actuators. Each finger is managed by two actuators, and the thumb by one, controlling joint movement. Additionally, tactile sensors are integrated into the fingertips, and embedded cameras into the palm. We are now starting to see integrated cameras in the palm of almost all new robotic hands.
The addition of a thumb significantly increases Atlas’s variety of object grasping. According to the engineers, this new design allows it to grip almost anything. The team states that three fingers are the minimum necessary number to perform complex tasks.
As is known, Boston Dynamics currently operates under the umbrella of Toyota. The company is collaborating with the Toyota Research Institute to develop a new artificial intelligence system called the “Large Behavior Model (LBM).” This system is trained on massive datasets of human movements, enabling the robot to understand, generate, and adapt behaviors. Actions that previously had to be programmed manually can now be added without writing extra code.
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