Micromagic Systems (Matt Denton) · legged machine
Mantis
A 1.9-tonne, diesel-hydraulic six-legged walker that can be driven from its cockpit or remotely over Wi-Fi. Its builder spent about four years on it after imagining six excavators joined to one chassis.
- Price
- —Not published
- Height
- 280 cmTaller than 77%
- Weight
- 1900 kgHeavier than 84%
- Payload
- —Not published
- Speed
- 1.0 km/hFaster than 21%
- Battery
- —Not published
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Why it matters
Guinness World Records' largest rideable hexapod robot (verified 15 November 2017).
Real-world use
Events and promotional work
Timeline
- Released
- Not yet
Maker
Micromagic Systems (Matt Denton)Company · Hampshire, United KingdomHow it stacks up
Against other legged & novel that publish the figure. Pick a measure.
Mantis is taller than 77% of the 22 other legged & novel that publish a height. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Mantis is heavier than 84% of the 25 other legged & novel that publish a weight. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Mantis is faster than 21% of the 19 other legged & novel that publish a speed. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Mantis has more joints than 63% of the 16 other legged & novel that publish a joints. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Not published by the maker: payload, battery, price.
Public attention
How much public attention Mantis gets, from open data.
- No Wikipedia article of its own yet
- 3 news stories from reputable press listed on this page
Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
The parts the company has talked about publicly.
- Movement
- Walks on legs · 18 joints
- How it runs
- Assisted. A driver in the cockpit or on a remote link steers it while its computer coordinates the six legs.
- Actuators & motors
- 18 hydraulic actuators (three per leg) powered by a 2.2-litre Perkins turbo-diesel engine.
- Sensors & vision
- Leg sensors (types not detailed).
- Compute
- Linux PC 'brain' running Micromagic's HexEngine gait software, also used on its small hexapods.
- AI & software
- Driven from the cockpit with two three-axis joysticks and 28 buttons, or remotely over Wi-Fi.
- Other details
- About 1.9 tonnes, 2.8 m tall and 5 m across; just over 1 km/h. Guinness record for the largest rideable hexapod robot.
From the maker
Mantis is the only machine from Micromagic Systems (Matt Denton) in the atlas.
Made, sold and where
Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.
- Price
- Not published
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
- Built
- One machine (a Mark II; an earlier version was tested in 2011)
- Sold or delivered
- not sold; offered for private hire and sponsorship
- Where it is sold or used
- Micromagic Systems, Hampshire, UK (privately funded)
- Customers and pilots
- Events and promotional work
News
The latest 3, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.
- Guinness verifies largest rideable hexapod
Guinness World Records verified Mantis, built by Matt Denton, as the largest rideable hexapod robot.
Guinness World Records - CNN meets the Mantis hexapod
CNN profiled the two-ton diesel walker, noting Denton's 2009 private funding and plans to show it at UK events.
CNN - Two-ton drivable hexapod revealed
New Atlas introduced Mantis as the largest operational all-terrain hexapod, built over four years.
New Atlas
Sources
Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.
Photos and logos only identify each robot and its maker. Simbeing is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsing any company, and nothing here is advertising. Figures are for statistics only and are not advice of any kind. Terms of use