Hello Robot Launches Open-Source Robotics Platform

MARTINEZ, California—Hello Robot, the team behind the Stretch mobile manipulation platform, announced the release of Stretch 4. Available now for $29,950, Stretch 4 is an open-source robotics platform designed for researchers, developers and application engineers building the next wave of physical AI applications for general purpose robotics.

“In the last few years, physical AI has brought us videos of robots doing amazing stunts, but these videos are missing something critical—the people the robots are meant to benefit,” says Aaron Edsinger, co-founder and CEO of Hello Robot. “With Stretch 4, Hello Robot is delivering a robot designed specifically to operate safely shoulder-to-shoulder with people. It is compact, lightweight, ready to work and a delight to use.”

Hello Robot has been piloting Stretch to support individuals with severe mobility impairments. Controlling the robot through a mobile phone app, users have increased agency, accomplishing tasks such as fetching a drink of water, closing the blinds and feeding themselves.

In developing Stretch 4 to meet the needs of these users, Hello Robot said it is tackling some of the most difficult challenges in robotics: safe, reliable and intuitive human-robot interaction.

“Designing Stretch 4 to meet real needs in homes has resulted in a platform with unprecedented potential,” said Charlie Kemp, chief technology officer and co-founder of Hello Robot. “With Stretch 4, developers can confidently target new applications in which robots closely collaborate with people. People are not an afterthought; they are the primary reason for Stretch 4’s design.”

Stretch 4 is a robot featuring a telescoping arm, an omnidirectional base and a sensor array—including two hemispherical 3D lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors, three high-resolution cameras and six laser line sensors. 

“You can’t cheat physics when it comes to robot safety,” said Edsinger. “The inherent physical properties of full-size humanoids means they can become potentially dangerous in the event of a system failure. In contrast, Stretch 4 has a unique, compact and low-potential-energy design. It is intrinsically much safer when things don’t go as expected—as they invariably will.”