Tendon-driven

A tendon-driven actuation architecture drives joints via cables or tendons routed from motors located elsewhere on the body. Typically proximal motors driving distal joints. The mechanical inverse of direct-drive (motor co-located with joint) and the conventional alternative to gear-at-the-joint designs.

Tendon-driven hands are the standard for high-DOF dexterous designs (Shadow Robot Hand, Allegro Hand, Figure's hand) because the alternative (a motor per finger joint) wouldn't fit inside the palm. Whole-arm tendon-drive (the Salisbury/MIT lineage) trades mechanical complexity for [backdrivability](/glossary/backdrivability) and weight distribution. Most modern humanoid bodies use geared actuators at major joints and tendons only for hands; pure whole-body tendon-drive remains more research direction than deployed architecture.