Robot Dogs for Sale: What You Get at Every Price Tier
Most robot dogs for sale today walk about equally well. What separates a $2,890 machine from a $61,200 one is almost never locomotion; it is perception hardware, payload, ingress protection and the interfaces you get for bolting your own equipment on. Our quadruped range runs from $2,890 to $61,200 at the time of writing, and the sections below set out exactly what each step up buys.
What actually changes as the price goes up
Every model below shares the same basic architecture: four legs, three joints per leg, twelve actuated degrees of freedom. Read the table across rather than down, because the pattern is more informative than any single row.
| Model | Price | Rated payload | Max speed | Onboard perception | Ingress protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Robotics Lite3 Basic | $2,890 | 5 kg | 2.5 m/s | 9-axis IMU, obstacle stop | IP54 |
| Deep Robotics Lite3 Basic AI | $4,968 | 5 kg rated, 7.5 kg max | 2.5 m/s | 9-axis IMU, obstacle stop | Not published |
| Deep Robotics Lite3 Venture | $6,480 | 4.5 kg | 2.5 m/s | 9-axis IMU, optional perception host | Not published |
| Deep Robotics Lite3 Pro | $12,510 | 4 kg | 2.5 m/s | Jetson Xavier NX, RealSense D435i, ultrasonics | IP54 |
| Deep Robotics Lite3 LiDAR | $18,270 | 2.5 kg | 2.5 m/s | 3D LiDAR, Jetson Xavier NX, RealSense D435i | Not published |
| Deep Robotics Lynx M20 Pro | $61,200 | 15 kg | 5 m/s lab tested | Dual 96-line LiDAR, dual industrial compute | IP66 |
Notice that rated payload falls from 5 kg to 2.5 kg as you move up the Lite3 range. That is not a downgrade. Sensors, compute and their mounts consume the same budget your own equipment would, so a better-equipped robot has less capacity left over. Only the step to a larger chassis reverses it.
Under five thousand dollars: the walking chassis
The entry tier gives you a complete, working legged robot with no perception stack. The Deep Robotics Lite3 Basic at $2,890 weighs 12 kg including battery, carries 5 kg, reaches 2.5 m/s, climbs 40-degree slopes and clears a 15 cm step. Range is up to 5 km on 1.5 to 2 hours of runtime, and it is rated IP54 for splashes. Control runs at up to 1 kHz on an RK3588 motion host under Ubuntu 20.04, with both ROS1 Noetic and ROS2 Foxy supported and M5 mounting points for adding your own sensors.
The Deep Robotics Lite3 Basic AI at $4,968 is the same chassis with the software gate opened. It supports reinforcement-learning policy deployment and PyTorch or TensorFlow training, and enabling AI Motion Mode raises step height from 15 cm to 18 cm and maximum payload to 7.5 kg. One caveat that belongs in any purchase decision: activating AI Motion Mode reduces warranty cover on joints, legs and battery from six months to three.
Five to ten thousand dollars: interfaces for your own hardware
This tier is bought by people who already know what they intend to mount on the robot.
The Deep Robotics Lite3 Venture at $6,480 weighs 12.2 kg with a 4.5 kg rated payload, and matches the Basic on speed, slope and step height. Its real difference is electrical: dual Ethernet and an external power supply providing 24 V, 12 V and 5 V outputs, which is what integrating a third-party camera, gas sensor or radio actually requires. It ships with reinforcement-learning-trained gaits for terrain adaptability, runs 1.5 to 2 hours on a 28.8 V, 4.4 Ah hot-swappable pack, recharges in 40 minutes to an hour, and covers up to 4 km.
Ten to twenty thousand dollars: perception included
Above ten thousand dollars the robot starts to see. This is the point where a quadruped stops being a platform you build on and becomes something that can run autonomy out of the crate.
The Deep Robotics Lite3 Pro at $12,510 weighs 12.9 kg with sensors fitted and carries 4 kg. It adds an NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX perception host with a 384-core Volta GPU, 48 tensor cores and 8 GB of LPDDR4x, alongside an Intel RealSense D435i depth camera, a wide-angle RGB camera and dual ultrasonic radars. It keeps the IP54 rating and reaches about 3.4 km per charge with the perception host running.
Perception-equipped configurations explained
Depth cameras and LiDAR answer different questions. A stereo depth camera is short-range, dense and cheap, and it suits obstacle avoidance and manipulation. A spinning 3D LiDAR is longer-range, sparser and far better at building a metrically accurate map, which is what autonomous navigation depends on.
The Deep Robotics Lite3 LiDAR at $18,270 adds a Livox or Leishen 3D LiDAR module on top of the Pro sensor set, with Faster-LIO SLAM and the Nav2 stack pre-configured and an Auto Mode for autonomous navigation. The costs are visible in the specification: weight rises to 13.5 kg, rated payload drops to 2.5 kg, and range falls to about 2.7 km. No IP rating is published for this configuration, so treat it as an indoor and fair-weather machine.
Fifty thousand and above: industrial duty
Beyond fifty thousand dollars you are no longer buying a research platform. You are buying equipment expected to work outdoors, in weather, carrying something heavy.
The Deep Robotics Lynx M20 Pro at $61,200 is a wheel-legged machine weighing 33 kg, rated for 15 kg payload with a 50 kg maximum static load. It is lab tested to 5 m/s with 2 m/s recommended for operation, climbs 45-degree slopes, handles 25 cm continuous stairs and an 80 cm maximum single step, and fits through 50 cm gaps. Perception comes from dual 96-line LiDAR covering 360 by 90 degrees at roughly 860,000 points per second, processed by dual octa-core industrial computers with 16 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage each. It is rated IP66, operates from minus 20 to plus 55 degrees C, runs up to 3 hours and 15 km unloaded or 2.5 hours and 12 km at rated load, and carries a 12-month warranty.
What comes in the box
A Lite3 Basic ships as robot, one rechargeable battery, AC charger, wireless gamepad, quick-start guide, safety manual and SDK reference documentation. That is a complete working set on day one, which is worth confirming before budgeting for accessories you already have.
The Deep Robotics Lite3 Controller is also sold on its own at $498.60, as a spare or a second unit for teams running several robots. It reaches 100 metres line of sight and 30 to 50 metres indoors on 2.4 GHz, runs 8 to 10 hours of active use, charges over USB-C in about two hours and works with every Lite3 variant. Two things worth budgeting for beyond the box: a second battery, since 1.5 to 2 hours of runtime rarely covers a full field day, and a transport case, because none of these machines is comfortable to carry by hand.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest robot dog you can actually use for work?
The Deep Robotics Lite3 Basic at $2,890 is the entry point in our range, and it is a fully functional legged robot rather than a toy: 12 kg, 5 kg payload, 2.5 m/s, IP54, with a wireless gamepad and SDK documentation in the box. It has no cameras or LiDAR, so any autonomy is something you add yourself.
Why does payload go down as robot dogs get more expensive?
Because sensors and compute weigh something. Across the Lite3 range, rated payload falls from 5 kg on the Basic to 4 kg on the Pro and 2.5 kg on the LiDAR configuration, while total mass rises from 12 kg to 13.5 kg. The chassis capacity has not changed; the factory has already spent part of it for you.
Are quadruped robots for sale waterproof?
Only some. The Lite3 Basic and Lite3 Pro are rated IP54, meaning dust protection and resistance to splashes, not immersion or heavy rain. No IP rating is published for the Venture or LiDAR configurations. The Lynx M20 Pro is rated IP66 and specified from minus 20 to plus 55 degrees C, which is why it costs what it does.
How long does a robot dog run on one charge?
Every Lite3 configuration is rated at 1.5 to 2 hours of continuous operation, though distance covered varies: up to 5 km on the Basic, about 3.4 km on the Pro and about 2.7 km on the LiDAR version. The Lynx M20 Pro manages up to 3 hours and 15 km unloaded, dropping to 2.5 hours and 12 km at rated load.
Do I need the perception package, or can I add sensors later?
Adding later is realistic if you have integration skills, which is what the Venture is designed for with its dual Ethernet and 24 V, 12 V and 5 V outputs. Buying the Pro or LiDAR configuration instead gets factory calibration, tested mounting and pre-configured software. Choose by whether the sensor integration is your research or an obstacle to it.
Choosing the right tier
Work backwards from what the robot has to carry and where it has to operate. Indoor research with your own sensor stack is well served under five thousand dollars. Field work with third-party hardware needs the expansion interfaces of the Venture tier. Autonomous navigation without an integration project means the Pro or LiDAR configurations. Outdoor, weather-exposed, heavy-payload work is the only case that justifies the Lynx M20 Pro.
Compare the full range in our quadruped robots collection. As an authorized Deep Robotics dealer we ship free with the full manufacturer warranty, match competitor pricing, and offer 0% APR financing plus weekday phone support, 9am to 5pm EST.