Stretch is a relatively small robot that one person can easily move, but it has enough range of motion to reach from the floor to countertop height. Sensing is focused on functional requirements, with basic obstacle avoidance for the base along with a depth camera on a pan-and-tilt head at the top of the robot. Stretch is also capable of performing basic tasks autonomously, like grasping objects and moving from room to room.
Robots can be difficult to manually control, and each additional joint adds extra complexity. Even for non-disabled users, directing a robot with many different degrees of freedom using a keyboard or a game pad can be tedious, and requires substantial experience to do well. Stretch’s simplicity can make it a more practical tool than robots with more sensors or degrees of freedom, especially for novice users, or for users with impairments that may limit how they’re able to interact with the robot.
More information:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/stretch-assistive-robot#toggle-gdpr