Boston Dynamics’ Stretch finds early success unloading trailers

Organization Name: Boston Dynamics

Country: USA

Website: www.bostondynamics.com

Year Founded: 1992

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Technology, Product Services

Innovation Subclass: Product Introduction

Description:

Boston Dynamics launched Stretch in March 2022. The omnidirectional mobile robot can unload floor-loaded trailers, working with a range of package types and sizes up to 50 lb. Stretch is equipped with a custom vacuum gripper and an advanced vision system that detects boxes and the container surroundings, enabling Stretch to autonomously recover packages that shi or fall during unloading. Stretch does not require pre-programming of SKUs or information about box sizes, making all unloading decisions in real time.

Analysis:

Fulfillment has been the top market for robotics the past few years. But truck unloading, one of the most important parts of the supply chain, has remained one of the least automated. Stretch is among a small group of robots currently hitting the market to ease challenges related to labor shortages, rising costs and worker injuries, as well as bringing more predictability and efficiency, to this inbound logistics process

Boston Dynamics has seen strong interest from early adopters like DHL, Performance Team - A Maersk Company, and NFI, all of which signed multi-million dollar orders for Stretch in its first year on the market. Trailer unloading is the first task Stretch is going after, with other case-handling applications to follow. With the early success and Boston Dynamics’ world-class robotics engineering prowess, Stretch is poised to become a vital part of the fulfillment process for years to come. RR – Steve

Crowe

Brain Corp adds dual-purpose to floor-scrubbing robots

Organization Name: Brain Corp

Country: USA

Website: braincorp.com

Year Founded: 2009

Number of Employees: 110-500

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Brain Corp’s autonomous floor scrubbers can be used to clean a wide variety of hard floor surfaces within retail stores, grocery stores, airports, malls, warehouses, educational institutions and more. Now, these robotic scrubbers can do more than just clean floors.

With Brain Corp’s Inventory Scan, the company’s floor scrubbing robots can autonomously scan and report key details about in-store inventory. The new accessory identifies the location of products, pricing compliance, stock levels and stock-outs as well as planogram compliance.

Analysis:

Grocery stores and supermarkets have some of the lowest profit margins of any industry, with most margins sitting between one and three percent. This means that many of these businesses don’t have a lot of spare capital to invest in expensive robots, and especially single-purpose robots.

Brain Corp’s dual-purpose floor cleaning and inventory scanning robots provide more value for the company’s customers without needing to double the number of robots deployed. Additionally, Inventory Scan can be more accurate and faster than manual inventory reporting methods, meaning these robots are doing more work at a higher quality and faster than human workers could. All around, Brain Corp’s dual-purpose capabilities show just how helpful robotics can be in the retail industry.

RR – Brianna Wessling