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Abstract. In recent years, Japanese society has been aging, engendering a labor shortage of young workers. Robots are therefore expected to be useful to perform tasks such as day-to-day work support for elderly people. Particularly, robots that are intended for use in the field of medical care and welfare, are expected to be safe when operating in a human environment because they often come into contact with people. Furthermore, robots must perform various tasks such as regrasping, grasping of soft objects, and tasks using frictional force. Given these demands and circumstances, a tendon-driven robot hand with a stiffness change finger has been developed. The finger surface stiffness can be altered by adjusting the input pressure depending on the task. Additionally, it can change the coefficient of static friction by changing surface stiffness merely by adjusting the input air pressure. This report describes the basic structure, driving mechanism, and basic properties of the proposed robot hand.