Shenzhen-based Mondo Robotics, founded by former DJI engineers, has unveiled Beni, a two-legged robot "camera dog" designed to autonomously follow a person or pet while filming stabilised video. The Verge's Sean Hollister previewed the device and found that, although it still needs refinement before its planned autumn launch, it was genuinely fun and impressively durable, surviving repeated deliberate crashes into walls and off ledges with only scuffs. The product matters as an attempt to reinvent the action camera and follow-drone concept in a friendlier, ground-based form.

Beni is priced at roughly $600 on Kickstarter or $800 at full retail, and Mondo claims it can travel at nearly 18mph, jump up to 10 inches, climb stairs and run for up to 1.5 hours per charge while filming in 4K30 HDR (or 3K60, or 1080p100). It can be steered via app joysticks or a bundled wrist-strap controller, or set to follow, film from the side or orbit like a drone, using twin 150-degree obstacle-avoidance cameras and a UWB wrist tracker — though in testing the tracking still clipped corners and hit walls. Hardware highlights include spring-loaded jumping legs, a 31Wh swappable battery, 32GB storage with a microSD slot, swappable wheels, 1/4-inch tripod threads under the ears, and expansion contacts hinting at future accessories such as a treat-tosser or charging dock.