GoKawiilis a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
What if you had a drone that wasn’t a buzzy, annoying fly people wanted to swat — but rather a cute dog that runs and jumps? What if it could do tricks on command, and film your tricks as well? What if it could get right back up after a nasty-looking crash, dozens of times in a row?
The first time I saw Beni on Instagram, I immediately thought it was AI video slop. Surely consumer robots aren’t that smart and agile in 2026? Then I took the real robot for a spin. Truth is, Beni does need work. But my first two-hour demo was so much fun, I badly want one for myself.
For roughly $600 on Kickstarter today or $800 full retail, Shenzhen-based Mondo Robotics is selling the dream of a two-legged robot dog that automatically follows you or your pet around. It claims that Beni can zip down the road at nearly 18 miles per hour, jump up to 10 inches into the air, hop up stairs, and last for up to 1.5 hours on a charge, filming and editing in super-stable 4K30 HDR (or 3K60, or 1080p100) as it goes.
You can control it with one or two virtual joysticks in the app, or the joystick built into its bundled controller that can optionally strap to your wrist like a watch. Or, just set it to follow you from behind, side, or orbit around you like a drone.
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
I couldn’t test all of that in one afternoon, and I have my doubts about the “automatically” part if it’s aiming to ship this fall. In my early demo, I had to manually activate its tracking modes, and Beni’s twin 150-degree obstacle avoidance cameras and UWB wrist tracker weren’t enough to keep it from clipping corners, smacking walls, or even running into my foot while trying to keep up with my kick scooter. (It did far better when I simply walked the streets of downtown Oakland.)
But I was floored by how stable and durable this bot truly is. It followed me down multiple flights of stairs, and even when I repeatedly and intentionally ran it into walls and off ledges, it always bounced back with no more than a deep scuff. And yes, it really can jump like it’s got a pair of Speed Racer’s auto-jacks! It’s so fun.
You can make Beni jump at any time with the press of a button or even the flick of a wrist with that watchband controller on. Video by Sean Hollister / The Verge
The trick is the legs. Motors in the shoulders fling the lower legs downward, while spring-filled cylindrical joints absorb the shock. When my Beni landed after this spectacular jump, it stayed on its feet — but even when it doesn’t, it immediately recovers by rotating those legs to get its wheeled feet back underneath its body. Check out my embedded video in this story to see just how much beating Beni can take and still get up again! (It’s also at YouTube.)
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