Boston Dynamics Stretch

What it's for

The Stretch does one thing, and one that is very tiring for people: it unloads trucks and containers. The robot drives up to the trailer, and a seven-axis arm with a vision-guided vacuum gripper lifts the parcels off one by one and places them on a conveyor.

The key feature is that no prior programming of specific SKUs is needed: the robot recognizes boxes from the image, so you do not have to load a database of each product's dimensions. Payload is up to 22.7 kg (50 lb) per parcel, and throughput is, according to the manufacturer, 600-800 cases per hour. The battery lasts a full shift, and the higher-capacity version up to 16 hours of work.

Unlike a typical mobile robot with an arm, Stretch holds a fixed position at the dock instead of circulating around the warehouse. That makes sense: unloading is the bottleneck through which all goods pass. For a logistics operator with a uniform stream of parcels, for example in e-commerce, one robot can relieve a shift of people working in the worst conditions. The scale of such tasks in the context of Polish centers is described in “Warehouse and logistics”, and the picture of broader warehouse automation in the piece “AMR Robots in the Warehouse”.

Limitations? Stretch makes less sense for irregular, small-item assortments, mixed bags and non-standard shipments. It is a tool for uniform cartons, not a universal "warehouse worker." Humanoids are being developed for tasks requiring more flexibility, which we cover in “Agility Digit in Warehouses”.

Who it's for

A good fit: logistics operators (3PL), distribution centers and e-commerce companies that unload large volumes of uniform shipments, struggle to staff their docks, and have a budget for a six-figure investment in dollars (the price is unpublished; this is orientation from a vague source). Customers who can judge how many hours a day the robot will actually be unloading.

Not a good choice for: small warehouses with a few deliveries a week - the cost will not pay back at low utilization. Also companies whose deliveries are mostly bulk goods, bags or pallets, because Stretch works on cases and cartons. In Poland there is no confirmed user or official distributor; before talks, check the sales channel and service in Europe. The list of companies in “Polish Robotics Companies” will help.

Deployments

Confirmed: logistics company NFI signed an agreement for several Stretch units worth USD 10 million - the best-documented deployment. For warehouse robots that is a rarity, because most manufacturers do not disclose customers.

It is worth knowing what exists in Polish logistics, though: Amazon Proteus works in Gliwice, among other places (Amazon Proteus), but it is not a product for sale. An overview of mobile robots for logistics is in the category “Mobile robots (AMR)” and in the piece on “AMR Robots in the Warehouse”. For Polish companies this means, for now, judging on the basis of foreign references and talks with the manufacturer or its partner, not visiting a working installation next door.

There is no direct competition in unloading in our catalog, so by alternatives we mean other ways of automating a warehouse.

Locus Origin - an American order-picking robot with a 36 kg payload, sold under a subscription model (RaaS). Instead of a single dock, it serves the racking.

HAI Robotics HaiPick A42 - an ACR robot reaching a height of 6 m and handling up to 9 totes at once; indicative price from about USD 50,000. Choose it when the problem is storage, not unloading.

Pudu T300 - an industrial AMR with a 300 kg payload for material transport, available in Poland; sensible for moving goods after unloading.

Agility Digit 5 - a humanoid with a 22.7 kg payload and early access from H1 2027, for moving totes; more flexible, but less proven than the specialized Stretch. None of these machines will replace truck unloading, so most often they complement Stretch rather than compete with it: unloaded cases still have to be moved, put away and picked.

Stretch was presented in 2021. It has been on sale since March 2022 (Boston Dynamics press release of 28 March 2022); that year's units were snapped up in pre-sales, and reservations were taken for deliveries in 2023-2024. The manufacturer, Boston Dynamics of Waltham, Massachusetts, has operated since 1992 and today belongs to the Hyundai group.

Stretch's story goes hand in hand with the company's change of direction. In April 2024 Boston Dynamics retired the hydraulic Atlas after 11 years and showed a fully electric humanoid (Atlas). In January 2026 the production version of Atlas for car assembly entered production; deployment at Hyundai's HMGMA plant is planned for 2028. In August 2026, at its CEO Investor Day, Hyundai confirmed production of 30,000 Atlas humanoids a year in the USA by 2028. In February 2026 CEO Robert Playter left after 32 years. The Atlas thread is covered in “Boston Dynamics Electric Atlas”.