RetiredSucceeded by WildCat United StatesAssisted

Cheetah

A tethered, treadmill-running quadruped funded by DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation programme. It first set an 18 mph record in March 2012, then 28.3 mph that September, using off-board power and a stabilising boom.

Price: —DARPA M3 research robot, not sold
Height: —Not published
Weight: —Not published
Payload: —Not published
Speed: 45.5 km/hFaster than 100%
Battery: —Not published

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Why it matters

Set the legged-robot land-speed record of 28.3 mph (45.5 km/h) in September 2012, faster than Usain Bolt's top 20 m split.

Real-world use

DARPA Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) programme

Timeline

First shown: 2012-03
Released: Not yet

First legged speed record (18 mph)

Maker

Boston DynamicsCompany · founded 1992 · Waltham, Massachusetts, United States

Owned by Hyundai Motor Group since June 2021 (80% stake bought from SoftBank for about $880M; SoftBank kept about 20%).

How it stacks up

Against other robot dogs that publish the figure. Pick a measure.

Cheetah is faster than 100% of the 34 other robot dogs that publish a speed. Bars show the 7 closest in date.

Speed 45.5 km/h 3.6 km/h45.5 km/h #1 of 35 · faster than 100%

Not published by the maker: height, weight, payload, joints, battery, price.

Public attention

A historic robot: no longer sold or in use, so it is not ranked against current machines.

No Wikipedia article of its own yet
1 news story from reputable press listed on this page

Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured

What’s inside

The parts the company has talked about publicly.

Movement: Walks on legs
How it runs: Assisted. It ran on a treadmill under its own gait control, tethered and on a stabilising boom, with researchers setting its speed.
Actuators & motors: Powered from an off-board source; leg and back motions coordinated by the control algorithms.
Other details: Ran on a treadmill held by a boom; reached 18 mph in March 2012 and 28.3 mph in August 2012, a legged-robot speed record faster than Usain Bolt's peak.

Lineage

Every Boston Dynamics machine in order.

Boston Dynamics also makes 5 humanoids. See every Boston Dynamics robot

Watch Cheetah

Video: Boston Dynamics on YouTube. Plays from youtube-nocookie.com when you press play.

Made, sold and where

Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.

Price: Not publishedDARPA M3 research robot, not sold
How to get one: No official buying page found
Built: Research robot
Sold or delivered: not sold
Where it is sold or used: Boston Dynamics, Massachusetts
Customers and pilots: DARPA Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) programme

News

The latest 1, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.

2012-09-05
Cheetah hits 28.3 mph
Boston Dynamics' tethered Cheetah set a legged-robot speed record on a treadmill; an untethered WildCat was in development.
IEEE Spectrum

Sources

Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.

IEEE Spectrum Boston Dynamics' Cheetah robot now faster than fastest human Unmanned Systems Technology Cheetah robot sets new land speed record for legged robots Boston Dynamics Legacy robots Boston Dynamics About Boston Dynamics

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