By Simon Bumford, Founder & CEO, Forge Robotics · Last updated: 2026-09-22
Can you trial a robot dog in the UK before buying one?
Yes, by six routes, and the right one depends on what you need to learn. A demonstration shows you a platform walking your ground for an afternoon. A hire, loan or evaluation arrangement puts a robot on site for weeks, where the manufacturer or its reseller offers one. Robotics-as-a-Service puts an industrial platform to work on a monthly fee where the maker supports that model. Neutral demonstration facilities and trade shows let you see several platforms without any of them coming to you. University and research partners can run an evaluation on a platform they already own. And a structured pilot combines whichever of those fits with measures, supervision and an exit condition, which is the route that produces a decision.
What none of the routes give you is a free industrial robot for a month. The industrial class is quoted per project, and time on one costs money whoever supplies it. The point of trialling is not to avoid spending; it is to spend a small, known amount to find out whether a large one is justified.
The six routes compared
| Cost shape | Typical duration | Platform class you will see | What it proves | What it cannot prove | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer or reseller demonstration | Usually free or a day rate | Hours | Whatever the supplier stocks; often the consumer class | Legged mobility on your stairs, gravel and thresholds; the operator interface | Endurance, weather, docking, false-alarm rate, integration |
| Hire, loan or evaluation unit | Weekly or monthly fee; deposit | One to six weeks | Consumer and education platforms readily; industrial by arrangement | A route run repeatedly; battery against the real route; operator workload | Unattended patrol unless a dock is included; industrial weather limits if the unit is consumer class |
| Robotics-as-a-Service | Monthly fee bundling hardware, support and updates; a minimum term | Months | Industrial platforms where the maker or partner offers the model | Real operation with support; the operating model at scale | Nothing it does not include; read what the fee covers |
| Neutral demonstration facility or trade show | Ticket or free | A day | Several platforms side by side | Which class suits which job; a shortlist | Anything about your site |
| University or research partner | Collaboration, sometimes grant-funded | Weeks to months | Research platforms the partner owns; often the Go2 EDU or similar | Software, perception and integration development; feasibility | Industrial endurance or weather; commercial support |
| Structured pilot | Scoped fixed budget for platform time, integration, safety and supervision | Scoping in weeks; two to six weeks on site | The class the task needs, sourced through whichever route above fits | A decision: coverage, uptime, false alarms, hours saved, against agreed measures | Only what the measures leave out, which is why they are agreed first |
Availability of hire, loan, evaluation and subscription terms varies by manufacturer, platform and volume and is confirmed per project. The consumer and education class (for example the Unitree Go2, which Unitree files under Consumer/Education and describes in its manual as not waterproof) is the class most readily available for short hires and is the wrong class to test an outdoor patrol on.
Which trial route fits which question?
Match the route to the thing you do not yet know.
Is legged mobility the answer at all?
A demonstration, or a neutral facility
If the open question is whether legs beat wheels or a fixed camera on your ground, an afternoon with any quadruped walking your stairs and gravel answers it. The class does not matter yet; the ground does.
Will it run our route, every night, in our weather?
An industrial-class evaluation or a pilot
Only a platform rated for your environment can answer this, and only over weeks that include your worst weather. A consumer-class hire cannot; a Go2 on a wet December night is outside its manual.
Can it talk to our systems?
A research partner, or engineering time in the pilot
Integration into your control room or reporting is software work. It can be developed and tested on a lower-cost platform with full SDK access and carried across to the industrial one.
Does the operating model work for our team?
RaaS or a pilot with supervision measured
False alarms, operator attention per patrol and what happens at 3 a.m. only show up in real operation with your people. Measure them, do not assume them.
How is a quadruped pilot run so that it ends in a decision?
Scoping and safety planning take a few weeks, and the supervised pilot itself usually runs two to six weeks: long enough to judge consistency and intervention rates honestly, rather than a one-day showcase. The sequence that works is the same whatever the route supplies the robot.
- Write down the task: one route, one purpose, the surfaces, steps and weather it must cope with, from your own site records.
- Choose the class from the task, then the platform from the class, using the makers’ published ingress, temperature, step and endurance figures as the first filter.
- Agree the measures in writing before anything arrives: coverage of the intended round, uptime including charging behaviour, detections and false alarms with a cost per false alarm, operator time per patrol, and the hours actually saved.
- Agree the exit condition: the result that stops the pilot early, and the result that ends it with a purchase or subscription decision.
- Plan safety and data protection first: the risk assessment under PUWER 1998, defined zones, a responsible person, and, for a camera platform, the data protection impact assessment and any SIA licensing the operating model needs.
- Run the route repeatedly through the worst week available, and record what the platform did when a gate was closed, the ground flooded or the link dropped.
- Report against the measures, including an honest “not yet”. A pilot that concludes a robot is wrong for the site has saved considerably more than one that flattered it.
That is how we structure a pilot programme. Where a business wants an outcome rather than an asset afterwards, subscription and hire options are scoped alongside purchase, and the whole cost of running the robot is set out in our running-cost guide.
What does a trial cost, and can grants help?
A demonstration is usually free or a day rate; a hire or evaluation unit is a weekly or monthly fee with a deposit; a subscription is a monthly fee with a minimum term; and a structured pilot is a scoped, fixed budget covering platform time, integration, safety planning and supervision. No maker publishes UK rates for the industrial class, so every figure you receive is a quotation. Grant or innovation funding can sometimes contribute towards a suitable project; eligibility depends on location, sector, applicant type, project stage and the schemes open at the time, is never guaranteed, and is assessed before the pilot is scoped rather than assumed into the budget.
Frequently asked questions
Can I hire a robot dog in the UK?
Yes, for the consumer and education class most readily, from resellers and hire companies on weekly or monthly terms; industrial platforms are available by arrangement with the manufacturer or its partner, and some are offered on Robotics-as-a-Service terms. Availability varies by platform and is confirmed per project. A hired consumer-class robot is the right way to test legged mobility on your ground and the wrong way to test an outdoor patrol.
How long should a quadruped robot trial last?
Two to six weeks on site, after a few weeks of scoping and safety planning. That is long enough to run the route repeatedly, include bad weather, and judge consistency, uptime and intervention rates honestly. A one-day demonstration answers a different, smaller question.
What should we measure in a robot dog pilot?
Coverage of the intended round, uptime including charging and docking behaviour, detections and false alarms with a cost per false alarm, operator time per patrol, what the robot did when the link dropped or the ground flooded, and the hours actually taken off people. Agree the measures and an exit condition in writing before the robot arrives.
Can we trial an industrial robot dog like the X30 or Spot before buying?
By arrangement, yes: through the manufacturer or its partner as an evaluation, through a subscription where the maker offers one, or as the platform inside a structured pilot. The industrial class is quoted per project, so time on one costs money whoever supplies it; the trial is designed to spend a small, known amount before a large one.
Does Forge Robotics have demonstration robots?
We arrange demonstrations through our manufacturer network rather than from stock of our own, against a task you recognise, and then scope a supervised pilot if the fit is real. Working across manufacturers is what lets us put the right class in front of you rather than the one we happen to own.
Is a Unitree Go2 hire a good way to test a security patrol?
No. It is a good way to test legged mobility on your stairs and gravel, the operator interface, and software integration. Unitree publishes no ingress rating for the Go2 and its manual says it is not waterproof and should run at 5 to 35 °C in good weather, so it cannot answer whether a patrol will run in a UK winter. Test that on the industrial class.
Sources & references
Related: how a structured pilot programme works · how we arrange demonstrations · Robotics-as-a-Service explained · where to see robots working in the UK · which quadruped class fits which job · what a quadruped costs to run in the UK
Forge Robotics is an independent UK robotics advisory and integration business operating under Raplin Ventures Ltd. Demonstrations are arranged through our manufacturer network rather than from stock of our own. Availability of hire, loan, evaluation and subscription terms varies by manufacturer and platform and is confirmed per project; nothing here is an offer. No client relationship, live pilot or trading history is described, and no distribution, reseller, agency or partnership relationship with any manufacturer named is implied.