Robotics startup Hello Robot recently unveiled the latest iteration of its popular Stretch research platform - the Stretch 3 mobile manipulator. Building on the success of previous models, Stretch 3 incorporates upgraded hardware and software designed to further robotics research and bring helpful robots into homes sooner.

At the core of Stretch 3 is an advanced robotic arm and gripper mounted on a mobile base, enabling it to manipulate objects by reaching across tables or floors. Key new hardware includes a rotating 3D camera on Stretch’s “head” for enhanced environmental perception and a smaller 3D camera integrated into its upgraded DexWrist 3 gripper. This allows the gripper to precisely servo and control itself using computer vision.

The quick-change wrist can also rapidly switch end effector tools, enabling easy customization based on specific needs - from a simple two-finger gripper to even mounting an iPad as a sort of robotic face. Weighing 54 pounds, Stretch 3 can lift small objects up to around 4 pounds and run for 2-5 hours on a charge depending on workload.

Built to Empower a Developer Community

Yet hardware is only part of the equation. As Hello Robot CEO and co-founder Dr. Aaron Edsinger noted, “With Stretch 3, we are taking a real step towards a future with home robots.” A key ingredient helping realize this goal is Stretch’s open-source software and the thriving developer community rallying behind it.

Offering interfaces in Python and ROS 2, Stretch acts as a universal research platform used by hundreds of universities and companies to quickly prototype new robot applications and AI. Researchers share code, models, and best practices which the wider community leverages to solve challenges like household manipulation faster together than any one group could separately.

It’s this open ecosystem enabling rapid advancement that co-founder and CTO Charlie Kemp seeks to nurture. Kemp brings critical experience as a former robotics professor at Georgia Tech University, where his lab worked closely with early versions of Stretch. Akin to how smart phones enable anyone to develop mobile apps, the team hopes to make it simple for users to create skills for Stretch.

Kemp described plans for an online “app store” where users could browse activities like laundry folding then easily download them onto their robot - no coding required. This would allow Stretch owners to customize capabilities matching their individual needs while tapping innovations from the global community.

Inching Towards Everyday Home Robots

And the possibilities for helpful home robots are expanding quicker than many realize. “Thanks to advances in AI, robots like Stretch are developing faster than expected,” Edsinger explained. “A robot autonomously doing laundry was once considered a long-term ‘grand challenge’ but is now within reach.”

I saw glimpses of this future firsthand during a recent Hello Robot visit, watching an occupational therapist expertly guide Stretch’s gripper to open doors and handle objects. But most eye-opening was feedback from a potential user with disabilities highlighting modest but meaningful ways Stretch could boost their independence - from grabbing dropped items to helping get dressed each morning.

It echoed research showing demand for assisted living technology outpacing population growth, driven partly by wishes to age at home. “Robots like Stretch offer that potential,” added Kemp.

Already Stretch 3 sees expanded interest from researchers in rehabilitation therapy, retail, factories, and beyond. It signals the wider applicability of this new generation of safe, capable mobile manipulators. “We designed Stretch 3 to help our community leverage recent advances in AI and perception for real world robot applications,” concluded Edsinger.

With Stretch 3 now available for researchers and innovative companies, it may not be long before these dexterous mobile robots find their way into more homes - perhaps our own. Once the stuff of science fiction, machines autonomously assisting us with household chores or other tasks is looking increasingly like the future thanks to platforms enabling next generation development today.