“Loading and unloading a truck is backbreaking, mind-numbing work that retailers and parcel carriers have tried to solve for years. Injuries are common…Boston Dynamics, has designed a robot called Stretch, named for its flexible arm that can reach the top corners of a trailer. DHL now has a total of seven Stretch robots in supply-chain facilities in three states and has trained nearly 100 associates to operate them. In Columbus, Ohio, one Stretch robot that DHL staff named ‘Johnny 5’ unloads around 580 cases an hour, almost twice the rate of a human unloader. FedEx has been testing and refining the truck-loading process in one of its facilities with robotics company Dexterity since 2023.