Stretch is Boston Dynamics’ warehouse robot for unloading trucks and shipping containers: a pallet-sized mobile base with a long arm and a vacuum gripper that pulls boxes off a stack and puts them on a conveyor. Boston Dynamics’ 2026 brochure rates it at 600 to 800 cases an hour, for cardboard boxes up to 50 lb (23 kg), with up to 16 hours of battery. DHL, Gap and Otto Group use it. There’s no public price; you buy through Boston Dynamics’ sales team.
Stretch specs (2026)
| Spec | Stretch |
|---|---|
| Throughput | 600–800 cases per hour (Boston Dynamics rating, not a guaranteed site rate) |
| Max box weight | 50 lb (23 kg) |
| Box size | Each side 6–36 in (15–91 cm), rectangular cardboard, flaps taped or glued |
| Gripper | Vacuum |
| Reach | 10.5 ft (3.2 m) vertical, 6.4 ft (1.95 m) horizontal |
| Base | 40 × 48 in (1 × 1.25 m), the size of a pallet |
| Weight | 2,866 lb (1,300 kg) |
| Battery | Up to 16 hours; about 90% charge in about 2 hours |
| Operating temperature | 5–45 °C |
| Installation | 5 days or less |
Source: Boston Dynamics’ 2026 Stretch brochure and product page, checked October 24, 2026.
What Stretch does
Stretch drives into the back of a trailer or container, uses its vision system and lighting to find the boxes, and pulls them one or several at a time onto a telescopic conveyor that extends and retracts with it. Boston Dynamics says it works with 20 ft and 40 ft standard and high-cube containers and with enclosed and curtainside trailers, and connects wirelessly to telescopic conveyors from the major brands. Its Multipick feature, added in late 2023, grabs up to four boxes per swing and places them spaced and aligned for scanning, per Boston Dynamics’ Multipick announcement. Stretch also does case picking onto pallets.
The box limits matter. Stretch is built for rectangular cardboard cases; bags, loose items and boxes over 50 lb still need people or other equipment. Check your inbound mix against those limits before you plan a fleet.
Who uses Stretch
- DHL: Stretch’s first commercial customer, with a $15 million investment announced in January 2022. In May 2025 DHL Group signed a memorandum of understanding for more than 1,000 additional Stretch robots worldwide, adding case picking.
- Otto Group: announced in September 2023 plans to use Stretch at more than 20 facilities, starting with Hermes Fulfilment.
- Gap Inc.: runs Stretch at distribution centers including Fishkill, New York, and Gallatin, Tennessee; a 2025 trade report said it had moved more than 8.7 million boxes and that one or two workers now handle 10,000 cases a day that used to need 12 to 15 people (Automated Warehouse).
- Boston Dynamics also shows Arvato, H&M, Maersk and NFI as customers on its product page.
How to buy Stretch
There’s no published price or rental rate. You contact Boston Dynamics’ sales team; it offers integration services and a long-term service plan called Stretch Care. Plan for the conveyor interface, dock layout and Wi-Fi coverage as part of the project, and ask for a test with your own trailers and box mix. If one robot will serve several docks or lines, measure the waiting first; our analysis of shared versus dedicated robots shows how. For vacuum grippers on rotating tools, see routing air and vacuum through the wrist.
Boston Dynamics in 2026
Boston Dynamics has been owned by Hyundai Motor Group since 2020, and Rohit Prasad, formerly of Amazon, became CEO on October 7, 2026. It sells three robots: Stretch, the Spot quadruped (see Spot’s cost and buying conditions) and the Atlas humanoid, whose 2026 output is committed to Hyundai and Google DeepMind (see our Atlas guide). Our Atlas vs Spot vs Stretch comparison explains which job each does. For other warehouse robots, see the AMR companies comparison.
Boston Dynamics pages and brochure checked October 24, 2026.