Boston Dynamics unveils new warehouse robot called Stretch

Cargo may be delayed in getting to warehouses due to the gigantic ship that was stuck in a canal, but once it gets there, a new Boston Dynamics robot is ready to handle all the boxes.

The robot is called Stretch, and while it certainly isn't nimble like Spot, Stretch is designed for the smooth, flat floors of a warehouse, allowing all of its agility to be focused on the arm sitting on top of its frame. Stretch can unload trucks and build pallets, and it does so quickly and autonomously.

"Warehouses are struggling to meet rapidly increasing demand as the world relies more on just-in-time delivery of goods," said Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics. "Mobile robots enable the flexible movement of materials and improve working conditions for employees. Stretch combines Boston Dynamics' advancements in mobility, perception and manipulation to tackle the most challenging, injury-prone case-handling tasks, and we’re excited to see it put to work."

Stretch is made up of five distinct parts. The mobile base allows movement in any direction with the ability to navigate around obstacles and travel up or down ramps. The base size is small enough that Stretch fits "anywhere a pallet does." The on-board battery holds enough charge for a "full shift," but there's the option of shore power for continuous operation.

On top of the base and power units sits a robotic arm with seven degrees-of-freedom, allowing for a long reach across a truck or pallet. The smart gripper sitting at the end of the arm is capable of picking up a variety of package types thanks to embedded sensors. Finally, there's a perception mast packed full of cameras and sensors, allowing Stretch to keep track of what's going while maintaining a high speed of operation.

Because Stretch works autonomously, it doesn't require new fixed infrastructure be installed at a warehouse, which should help keep costs down. However, we don't know how much Boston Dynamics intends to charge for a Stretch robot yet (Spot is $75,000). For now the company just wants customers for pilots tests before commercial deployment happens in 2022.