BOSTON – November 3, 2026 – Boston Dynamics has unveiled Stretch Gen 2, the next generation of its autonomous mobile trailer unloading robot. Built on insights from first-generation deployments, Stretch Gen 2 introduces major hardware and structural upgrades engineered to maximize uptime and streamline maintenance in high-volume logistics environments.
As a first mover in the robotic unloading space, Stretch is the market leader and has more deployments than any competitive product in the logistics industry. The team 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. 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.”
The hardware changes start with reliability. 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. New continuous rotation joints move beyond 360° so they no longer hit hard stops, which previously caused mechanical stress. Cutting 81 percent of the internal cabling – about a half-mile’s worth – removes the biggest source of intermittent electrical faults and wiring wear. 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 re-engineered to reduce the frequency of service calls, but when maintenance is needed it goes much faster. A full swerve drive swap, for example, 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. 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.
The new robot also 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.
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. Its battery lasts two shifts and a fast charger gets it to 90 percent 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.
About Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics is the global leader in AI-enabled mobile robots that tackle the toughest industrial and safety challenges. Our robots are equipped with advanced mobility, dexterity and intelligence, enabling automation in unstructured, unsafe or hard-to-traverse spaces. We have three robots in our portfolio: Spot®, a quadruped that conducts industrial inspections, manages facility performance data and keeps people out of harm’s way; Stretch®, a box-moving robot for logistics and retail customers; and Atlas®, our electric humanoid platform currently in early production. For more information on our company and our technologies, please visit bostondynamics.com.
