According to The Robot Report, the first Stretch logged more than 100,000 operating hours and handled tens of millions of boxes. Brian Donnelly, vice president of logistics robotics at the company, said the new version has been in the works for about two and a half years, and that the first generation got to market fast but "was not the easiest to manufacture." This time the focus was simplification, hardening and reliability.
Stretch Gen 2 unloads up to 1,000 cases an hour, depending on weight and stacking, can pick several boxes at once, and its fast charger reaches 90% in about 75 minutes. It has onboard lighting for dark trailers and a pre-trained vision system that detects most packages without programming.
The company cut 81% of the internal cabling, about half a mile, and switched to automotive-grade connectors that withstand vibration; Hyundai, its owner, helped source the cable harness through its supply chain. Joints that rotate beyond 360 degrees without hard stops reduce mechanical stress and let the robot plan more efficient motions. Pricing and availability were not given in the report.