Hello Robot launches Stretch 4 for mobile manipulation

Hello Robot launched Stretch 4 on May 12, 2026, making the open mobile manipulator available for $29,950. The new model adds an omnidirectional base, a telescoping arm, a richer sensor head, faster motion, stronger onboard compute and an open-source software stack for researchers, developers and application engineers building indoor mobile-manipulation systems.

The Company

Hello Robot was founded in 2017 by Aaron Edsinger and Charlie Kemp after earlier work at MIT with Rodney Brooks. Edsinger went on to build robotics companies including Meka Robotics and Redwood Robotics, both acquired by Google in 2013, and later led business, product and technical development for robotics investments at Google. Kemp founded the Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech in 2007, where his group worked on mobile manipulators for older adults and people with disabilities before he joined Hello Robot full time in 2023.

Stretch came out of that overlap between commercial robot building and assistive mobile manipulation. The first public version, Stretch RE1, launched in 2020 as a compact research platform weighing 23 kg and costing less than $20,000, with a small mobile base, vertical lift, telescoping arm and compliant gripper for indoor tasks. Kemp, Edsinger and collaborators later described the design as a way to reduce size, weight and cost while preserving enough reach and workspace for useful manipulation in homes.

The Product

Stretch 4 keeps the same basic body logic and updates the parts that matter for indoor work. The omnidirectional base lets the robot reposition in tight spaces without turning first. The telescoping arm and lift preserve the vertical reach that made earlier Stretch robots useful around counters, shelves, tables and seated users. The new sensor head adds two hemispherical 3D LiDAR sensors, three high-resolution cameras and six laser line sensors for navigation, manipulation and close operation around people.

The compute stack also moves forward. Hello Robot says Stretch 4 is built for Physical AI applications and ships with baseline autonomy including mapping, navigation, self-charging and grasping demonstrations. The platform remains open and developer-facing, with Hello Robot positioning it for research, enterprise applications and assistive pilots rather than one locked consumer workflow.

The Assistive Path

Hello Robot’s assistive work gives Stretch 4 a rich product history beyond a standard research-platform update. The company says Stretch has been piloted with people with severe mobility impairments who control the robot through a mobile phone app, completing tasks such as fetching water, closing blinds and feeding themselves. Stretch 4 was developed around those close-contact indoor requirements, including lightweight hardware, intuitive control and operation near people.

Have a robotics update Korthos should review? Send news, deployments, product releases, funding rounds, research, or media to tips@korthos.xyz or reach out on X at @agkorthos.