Boston Dynamics launches Stretch Gen 2 autonomous mobile trailer unloading robot

Boston Dynamics unveiled Stretch Gen 2, the next generation of its autonomous mobile trailer unloading robot.

The company said that Stretch Gen 2 is built on insights from first-generation deployments, and introduces major hardware and structural upgrades engineered to maximize uptime and streamline maintenance in high-volume logistics environments.

Expanding Stretch’s capabilities for trailer unloading

Boston Dynamics said that Stretch is the market leader in the robotic unloading space, and has more deployments than any competitive product in the logistics industry. The company said that it analyzed data from more than 100,000 operating hours and tens of millions of boxes that Stretch has already unloaded to target the most common causes of unplanned downtime.

Boston Dynamics said that the result is a robot hardened for durability and an updated modular design that enables “plug and play” part swaps for easier maintenance and serviceability.

"Our customers count on Stretch to keep freight moving, and every hour a robot sits idle is an hour of work that piles up on the dock," said Brian Donnelly, vice president & general manager of logistics robotics at Boston Dynamics. "With Gen 2, we focused on the things that actually took robots offline in the real world. We made it tougher, we made it simpler to service, and we made sure it keeps getting better long after it's deployed."

Boston Dynamics said that the hardware changes start with reliability.

The company said that Stretch Gen 2 uses heavy-duty automotive-grade connectors that hold up to the vibration of rapid, high-torque box handling and driving over uneven floors. An upgraded gripper with new valve systems and more precise sensing improves grasping and placement to optimize fast-paced picks.

Boston Dynamics said that new continuous rotation joints move beyond 360° so they no longer hit hard stops, which previously caused mechanical stress. The company also cut 81% of the internal cabling - about a half-mile’s worth - removing the biggest source of intermittent electrical faults and wiring wear. Boston Dynamics said that the emergency stop now sits lower and is recessed, and the exterior panels were made with new materials so a falling box is far less likely to trip an unintentional safety stoppage or break a panel.

Stretch Gen 2 is mindful of maintenance

The company said that Stretch Gen 2 is re-engineered to reduce the frequency of service calls, but when maintenance is needed it goes much faster. For example, Boston Dynamics said that replacing a full swerve drive swap now takes about one hour instead of a full day. Dynamic cables and complex harnesses are gone, and standardized high-strength fasteners cut down on tool changes and hands-on repair time. The company said that new onboard diagnostics and maintenance tools put more routine service in the hands of a customer's own maintenance team, so robots stay on the dock with less reliance on outside support.

Additionally, Boston Dynamics said that the new robot runs on a redesigned onboard computing platform that is constantly improving. Regular software releases bring gains in case detection, motion planning, pick strategies and world modeling across an entire fleet, with no hardware changes required.

Boston Dynamics said that these design changes mean that Stretch Gen 2 unloads up to 1000 cases per hour, a rate highly dependent on factors like case weight and how neat or disorderly cases are stacked, with a multipick feature that pushes performance to peak rates. The company added that the battery lasts two shifts and a fast charger gets it to 90% charge in about 75 minutes. Onboard lighting means it works in dark trailers, and its pre-trained vision system detects most packages from day one with no programming needed.