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    "story_id": "mp-2026-10-27-010",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-story-orbit-reconfigurable-hand",
    "edition_id": "mp-2026-10-27-morning-0109",
    "edition_url": "https://themachinepress.com/edition/2026-10-27",
    "position": 10,
    "story_type": "dispatch",
    "section": "robotics",
    "editorial_classification": "editorial",
    "headline": "The Robot's Knuckles Move Before Its Fingers Do",
    "slug": "the-robot-s-knuckles-move-before-its-fingers-do",
    "dek": "ORBIT rotates independent fingers around a cylindrical palm in under a second, letting one platform compare hand morphologies directly.",
    "summary": "ORBIT rotates independent fingers around a cylindrical palm in under a second, letting one platform compare hand morphologies directly.",
    "body_text": "Robotic-hand studies often compare controllers on fixed hardware, leaving the hand's morphology entangled with the result. ORBIT adds a belt-driven rotating knuckle that moves each finger around a cylindrical palm without disassembly. The authors report reconfiguration in under one second, average finger angular velocity of 1.57 radians per second and root-force resistance of 50 newtons. A three-finger prototype compared anthropomorphic, isometric and Barrett-style layouts on eleven objects, while the orbital degree of freedom enabled cube-face reorientation, lid threading and sub-centimeter pinching. This is an initial platform and pilot grasping study, not a universal ranking of hand designs; its contribution is repeatable morphology comparison on shared hardware.",
    "why_it_matters": "ORBIT rotates independent fingers around a cylindrical palm in under a second, letting one platform compare hand morphologies directly.",
    "limitations": [
      "This is an initial platform and pilot grasping study, not a universal ranking of hand designs; its contribution is repeatable morphology comparison on shared hardware."
    ],
    "importance": 8,
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    "first_published_at": "2026-10-27T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-10-27T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "text": "ORBIT rotates independent fingers around a cylindrical palm in under a second, letting one platform compare hand morphologies directly.",
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          "source-2026-10-27-010"
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        "qualification": "This is an initial platform and pilot grasping study, not a universal ranking of hand designs; its contribution is repeatable morphology comparison on shared hardware."
      }
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    "source_ids": [
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    "tags": [
      "robot hands",
      "morphology",
      "manipulation",
      "hardware"
    ],
    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": []
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-10-27-010",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2610.33241, original v1",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33241v1",
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      "source_type": "primary_research",
      "is_primary_source": true,
      "published_at": "2026-10-25T20:00:00.000-04:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-10-27T08:18:12.114-04:00",
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  "publisher": {
    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "The Robot's Knuckles Move Before Its Fingers Do",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-10-27T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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