This article was written by Sharon Aluma, a Product Manager for Warehouse Automation at Boston Dynamics who is spearheading product development of future Stretch warehouse applications. Before joining Boston Dynamics, Sharon led several impactful robotics and automation initiatives as a technical product manager at Amazon Robotics.

When you step inside the Stretch lab, you might forget you’re not in a real warehouse. Across an array of dock doors, freight is swiftly unloaded out of trailers onto conveyors by Stretch, our autonomous mobile case handling robot, which keeps material flowing at a brisk pace.

We’ve built this space to closely resemble a live warehouse environment and create an ideal proving ground, matching everything from our customers’ dock configurations and conveyance equipment to the exact shipping containers and boxes they unload. Here, Boston Dynamics engineers rigorously test Stretch behaviors and train machine learning models, evaluating and fine-tuning solutions to ensure optimal performance long before robots are deployed to real-world sites.

Recreating the Real World

Stretch handles a wide range of box types, sizes, and weights measuring up to 50 pounds, including highly graphical cases. We go further to validate Stretch’s capabilities by testing with the exact freight our customers move — our team either rebuilds boxes to match customers’ freight specifications, or, in some cases, customers have shipped us their actual products so we can test with the real thing.

Testing with diverse containers allows Stretch to adapt seamlessly from one container to the next. For instance, if a certain container has lower clearance than another, the robot arm adjusts its motion to maneuver flexibly without colliding with the surrounding environment.

Advanced Autonomy for Streamlined Operation

Development in the lab also focuses on the small ways we can make life easier for robot operators, including the changeover process. For example, once Stretch finishes unloading a container there’s no need for warehouse workers to make the long walk through the container to back up the conveyor and retrieve the robot. After picking and placing the last box, Stretch automatically backs out of the container, retracting the telescopic conveyor along with it, and even clearing any missed boxes on its way out. Once Stretch  returns to the container entrance, an operator can then simply guide the robot to the next dock door and start it up again.

Going the Distance

Reliable case unloading is a marathon, and Stretch is built for endurance. Just across from the dock, our reliability test cells push Stretch to its limits, cycling robots through repetitive box-handling behaviors for extended periods. This stress testing helps us identify potential failure points and quickly implement fixes in the lab to prevent critical downtime in the field.

Reaching Further: Beyond the Trailer

Testing Stretch for real-world scenarios in the lab is critical to guarantee precise and consistent unloading performance. But our vision for Stretch as a multi-purpose robot doesn’t end there — we’re actively developing new functionalities that will allow Stretch to help with other processes around the warehouse, such as case picking and building palletized orders for outbound shipment. Stay tuned as Stretch evolves to conquer even more complex logistics challenges and boost warehouse efficiency to the next level.

To learn more about how Stretch is enabling customers today, join our webinar at 11 a.m. ET on November 19: Automating the Dock – How Robotic Unloading Improves Warehouse Operations.