KAIST's HOUND once held the Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 meters by a quadruped robot, clocking 19.87 seconds. Zhejiang University's White Rhino took that crown last year with a 16.33-second dash.
Beyond the racetrack, however, China's lead is measured in shipments.
Chinese companies accounted for more than 90 percent of the 46,000 quadruped robots shipped worldwide last year, according to Counterpoint Research. Industry revenue approached $700 million, including supporting hardware and software.
Unitree took 37 percent of the nearly 35,000 units shipped in the first half of this year. About 40 percent of total shipments went into industrial applications, including plant patrols, equipment inspections and firefighting.
AgiQuad, spun out of China's AgiBot, led the industrial segment, followed by Deep Robotics with a 26 percent share.
"Boston Dynamics has already commercialized Spot and supplies it to industrial sites," Counterpoint said. "Yet Chinese companies dominate the global market in this very product category."
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, funded pioneering machines including Boston Dynamics' hydraulic LS3, conceived as a mechanical pack mule for troops. The U.S. Marine Corps shelved it in 2015 because its gasoline engine was loud enough to give away a unit's position.
MIT professor Kim Sang-bae took a quieter route with his DARPA-funded Cheetah robots. Powerful electric motors with little gearing allowed the legs to absorb impacts and respond to contact with the ground—an approach known as quasi-direct drive, or QDD.
"Eventually, we hope to develop a machine that can rescue a person," Kim said in a 2018 MIT article, as his team prepared Cheetah III for hazardous environments such as damaged nuclear plants.
That research also helped inform China's emerging robot industry. Unitree founder Wang Xingxing's 2016 master's thesis, which described the XDog prototype that preceded the company, cites MIT's Cheetah work.
Unitree subsequently pushed into the market with lower-priced machines. Its Go2 launched in 2023 at $1,600, while Spot went on sale to businesses in 2020 at a base price of $74,500. The launch prices covered different machines and capabilities, but illustrate the range of customers manufacturers were pursuing.
"Humanoid robots and the quadruped robots fundamentally implement similar technology," said Park Hae-won, a KAIST professor whose laboratory built HOUND.
"Many are already in use for reconnaissance, search, or moving around doing inspections."
Closer to home, a security version of Spot has patrolled Hyundai Motor and Kia's Seoul headquarters since May. Hyundai Motor Group acquired Boston Dynamics in 2021.
"Industrial grounds already have a great many hazards, but existing sensors and CCTV can't cover them all, so robots are going in to cover those areas," said Jeon Han-gu, head of industrial support at the Korea Association of AI Robot Industry.
Four legs offer a practical advantage on difficult terrain.
"They just don't fall over as much," Jeon said. "A humanoid's hands stay idle when it walks, but a quadruped uses all four legs, so the force can be shared."
South Korean companies are also pursuing military applications.
Rainbow Robotics, backed by Samsung Electronics, delivered a counterterrorism quadruped prototype developed with Hyundai Rotem to the Army in 2024. LIG Nex1 owns 60 percent of Ghost Robotics, a U.S. maker of military robot dogs.
Endurance remains a constraint. Spot typically runs for about 90 minutes per charge, limiting how long it can work before returning to a charger or receiving a fresh battery.
KAIST's RAIBO2 offered a glimpse of what might come next. In November 2024, it completed a full marathon without recharging or changing its battery. The research behind the feat was published in Nature this year.
Counterpoint expects global quadruped shipments to exceed 90,000 this year, nearly double last year's total, as industrial demand expands.
"Korea is in a special situation, so the government, including the military, could buy more of domestic products and provide more subsidies for quadruped robot developments," Park said.
There is also room to experiment with what a working robot should look like.
Humanoids copy the human body so they can step into workplaces built for people. Robot dogs are less bound by anatomy.
Spot can carry an arm where a head might be. Unitree's B2-W rolls on wheels. Others rear up on two legs or assemble from two wheeled halves.
Four legs are the only house rule. Judging by the wheels, some designers treat even that as a suggestion.
AJP Takeaways
- Chinese companies made more than 90 percent of the 46,000 quadruped robots shipped worldwide in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research data released Oct. 20, 2026.
- Unitree took 37 percent of global quadruped shipments in the first half of 2026, and Counterpoint expects full-year shipments to top 90,000 units.
- Today's electric robot dogs trace back to DARPA-funded research, including MIT professor Kim Sang-bae's Cheetah robots, which used quasi-direct-drive motors.
- In South Korea, Rainbow Robotics delivered a counterterrorism quadruped prototype built with Hyundai Rotem to the Army in 2024, and Hyundai Motor and Kia deployed a security version of Boston Dynamics' Spot at their Seoul headquarters in May 2026.
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