News from the IT family on October 2nd: Boston Dynamics ( Boston Dynamics ) announced yesterday (October 1st) that it has upgraded the capabilities of its high-end robot Atlas's arm, increasing the number of degrees of freedom from 7 to 13, and also demonstrated the ability to control drills and other tools.

IT Note: Degrees of freedom refer to the number of directions in which a mechanical system can move independently or the number of joints it has. The more degrees of freedom a robotic arm has, the more independent actions its fingers, thumb, and joints can perform. Industrial robots often rely on multiple degrees of freedom to complete tasks such as grasping, rotating, positioning, and assembling.

Boston Dynamics mechanical engineer Dylan Thrush stated that after increasing the number of degrees of freedom of the Atlas robotic arm from 7 to 13, it will further increase the dimensions of independent actions that can be controlled, allowing the hand to perform more independent joint movements.

The new robotic arm features 1 thumb and 3 additional fingers. Boston Dynamics states that adding a fifth finger increases the structural complexity as well as the energy consumption.

In the official demonstration, the new robotic arm was able to control a drill bit, move two golf balls with one hand, and tighten screws, among other tasks.