If you want to guess the purpose of any given futuristic humanoid robot, look at its hands. That’s in sharp contrast to the much more seemingly human-like robot hands unveiled by Figure last week. Why human hands are so hard to copyHands might be one of the hardest human body parts to accurately replicate in robotic form. And while robot hands and advanced prosthetic limbs have made significant progress in recent years, none come close to the sophistication, reliability, and innate simplicity of a human hand. But the most significant innovation came from adding a feature that separates human hands from those of most other animals: an opposable thumb.