Boston Dynamics’ VP of Product Engineering on Developing Stretch

Welcome to Episode 39 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community.

You can subscribe to The Robot Report Podcast on Amazon MusicApple PodcastsGoogle PlaySoundCloudSpotify and more. Please subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review!

In this episode, we welcome our new co-host Mike Oitzman to the show. Mike is the founder and editor of The Mobile Robot Guide and he recently joined WTWH Media as an editor in the robotics group.

Kevin Blankespoor, VP of product engineering at Boston Dynamics, takes us inside the development of Stretch, the box-moving robot the company introduced this week. Blankespoor describes the evolution of the product design, the many system integration challenges, plans to improve the Pick vision system going forward, similarities between Atlas, Spot and Stretch, and much more.

If you would like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the podcast, or if you have recommendations for future guests or segment ideas, contact me. For sponsorship opportunities of The Robot Report Podcast, contact Courtney Nagle for more information.

Podcast timestamps

  • 0-10:42: Show Intro, Welcome to Mike Oitzman
  • 10:42-42:39: Conversation with Kevin Blankespoor, VP of product engineering at Boston Dynamics
  • 42:39-54:17: News Commentary: Tesla FSD doesn’t make cars autonomous, Amazon rumors with Vesta
  • 54:17-55:33: Show Outro

Show notes

mike oitzman headshot.
Written by

Mike Oitzman

Mike Oitzman is Senior Editor of WTWH's Robotics Group, cohost of The Robot Report Podcast, and founder of the Mobile Robot Guide. Oitzman is a robotics industry veteran with 25-plus years of experience at various high-tech companies in the roles of marketing, sales and product management. He can be reached at moitzman@wtwhmedia.com.