Massachusetts Institute of Technology · United States

Cog

Name: Cog
Brand: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cog was an upper body humanoid built at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory under Rodney Brooks from 1993 to 2003. It was designed to test the idea that intelligence requires a human like body and social interaction. Work on Cog and its sibling Kismet shaped the field of developmental and social robotics.

Retired discontinued Score 20/100, niche Generation 1 Checked 2026-09-04

Cog, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

No written verdict yet

We have not sat down with this one. The score below is computed from the data we hold, and the facts on this page are sourced. It is not on sale, so there is nothing to recommend.

20/100

Niche

Capability 15/30

Value 0/25

Buyability 2/20

Ecosystem 3/15

Proof 0/10

Computed from the data · how the score works

How the score is built

Capability is what the machine physically does. Value compares it with others at a similar price, not with the whole market. Buyability asks whether you can really order one. Ecosystem is the software and community around it. Proof is what it has done in the field, which is where most humanoids score badly and should.

Read the full method

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Status: Retired
Category: research
First revealed: 1993
Form: upper-body
Height: n/a
Weight: n/a
Payload: n/a
Degrees of freedom: n/a
Battery: n/a
Runtime: n/a
Walking speed: n/a
Actuation: electric motors with series elastic actuators in the arms
Units deployed (est.): not disclosed
Teleoperation: no

Where it stands

Project ended in 2003; the robot is preserved at the MIT Museum.

What stands out

First large humanoid research program in the United States
Series elastic actuators were pioneered on its arms
Preserved at the MIT Museum

Autonomy, observed

Demonstrated gaze following, reaching to visual targets, imitation of simple gestures and rhythmic tasks such as drumming

Hands, sensors, brain

Hands: simple grippers, later a hand with limited fingers
Sensors: foveated stereo cameras, microphones, gyroscopes, tactile sensors
Compute: network of Motorola 68332 processors, later PCs
AI stack: behaviour based architecture (subsumption)

Price and volume

research prototype

Timeline

Milestones.

1993
MIT starts the Cog humanoid project
Rodney Brooks' group at the MIT AI Lab begins Cog, an upper body humanoid built to study embodied intelligence and human robot interaction. The project runs until 2003 and influences later social robots such as Kismet.

Same maker

Other robots by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology · United States

MIT Humanoid

Research

The MIT Humanoid is a small, high power bipedal robot from Sangbae Kim's Biomimetic Robotics Lab, built around the proprioceptive actuators of the MIT Cheetah quadrupeds. It was designed for dynamic and acrobatic behaviour such as jumping and flipping. It has served as a testbed for learning based locomotion.

Heightn/a

Weightn/a

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