It leans forward, lifts a box from a pallet and rolls away on two wheels. Boston Dynamics’ Handle looks like a mechanical bird with an oversized neck. Every odd movement serves an ordinary job: moving boxes.
The video shows the research robot balancing while its vacuum gripper handles cartons. Mobile manipulation was a stepping stone towards Stretch, the warehouse robot Boston Dynamics now sells.
The whole body joins in
A box held far forward shifts the centre of mass. Handle must control its posture and wheels as well as the gripper. Unlike a fixed industrial arm, a mobile robot can drive to the next pallet and take its working reach with it.
Today’s Stretch uses a stable mobile base, arm and vacuum gripper to unload trailers and containers. Boston Dynamics lists hundreds of boxes an hour and packages up to 50 pounds, about 23 kilograms. It says the robot can also detect and retrieve fallen boxes, reducing interruptions.
Robots among real orders
Amazon deployed its millionth robot in 2025, across different specialised warehouse tasks. These are not a million humanoids: different machines move inventory or assist with handling and sorting.
A DHL agreement also opens the way to over a thousand additional Boston Dynamics robots. It is a statement of intended expansion, not a count of completed deliveries. Handle shows an engaging part of that development: an entire robot body cooperating to put a box in the right place.
