A robotics company co-founded by an ex-Google executive has launched its first ever product called, Stretch. The bot, which Hello Robot has spent three years developing, is being marketed as a'home automation platform' designed to spur advancements in home robotics. It consists of a robotic arm and gripper attached to a wheeled base and can be programmed for a number of household tasks like removing laundry from a dryer or operating a handheld vacuum. 'What sets this robot apart is its extraordinary reach -- which is why we named it Stretch,' said Edsinger in a statement. 'Its patent pending design makes possible a range of applications such as assisting an older parent at home, stocking grocery shelves, and wiping down potentially infectious surfaces at the workplace.

In a decade or so, people may not have to tidy their house, clean up after the dog, or even nag their spouse to do chores. A friendly, human-like robot will take care of routine tasks, and it won't whine or fight back. If technologists' predictions bear out, this second coming of robots could be more pervasive than the first in the '60s, when industrial robots revolutionized manufacturing. Designed to mimic the look and gestures of humans, the new breed of personal robots eventually may have artificial skin and muscles, as well as eye and facial expressions, and they might speak more naturally. But for this rapidly evolving field to take off, scientists will have to improve the quality and reliability of electronics first, and companies will have to find the application that every household must have.

Are we on the brink of a robotics revolution? That's what numerous media outlets asked last December when Google acquired eight robotics companies that specialize in such innovations as manipulation, vision, and humanoid robots. Among those acquisitions was MIT spinout Meka Robotics, co-founded by Aaron Edsinger SM '01, PhD '07 and Jeff Weber, a former research engineer in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. Founded in 2006, Meka was an early creator of "compliant" humanoid robots that now work safely alongside humans in everyday environments -- including factories and cramped research labs. Based on the co-founders' work at MIT, Meka's sleek robotics hardware included adult-size arms and hands, as well as heads, torsos, and full-body systems with advanced control innovations, such as spring-based Series Elastic Actuators (SEAs) that provide torque control and measurements at each joint.