Boston Dynamics not only has robots that jump and walk like puppies, it also works with robots that perform normal tasks, such as moving boxes inside warehouses, and that is what they just introduced a few hours ago.
The robot is called Stretch, and it is not as spectacular as the rest, although it is practical, yes. It has a square movable base that contains a set of wheels, a sensing mast with cameras and other sensors, and a huge robotic arm with seven degrees of freedom and a suction cup matrix on the end that can grip and move boxes up to 23 kilograms of weight. weight.
Stretch is designed to move anywhere, it is not something fixed like other robots of its category, so it could be used perfectly to load or unload merchandise. We can put it in the back of a truck, or in the aisles of a warehouse, depending on where we need it on the same day.
Stretch can run on batteries for eight hours straight or switch to connected power, aiming to reach companies that do not have such systems due to the cost and little flexibility of existing solutions.
The 2019 purchase of the company Kinema Systems, which makes artificial vision software for warehouse robots, has been key to the development of Stretch, as well as the experience they had with Handle, the wheeled robot that could move boxes using a single arm. robotic.
At the moment Stretch can only handle boxes with flat surfaces, which limits its usefulness in certain warehouses, but it can move up to 800 boxes per hour, a rate of return comparable to that of a human employee.
The robot can be operated by anyone with just a few hours of training, and hit the market in 2022.
