Clearpath Dingo

Overview

The Clearpath Dingo is a compact indoor research robot from Clearpath Robotics, standing just 110 mm tall with a 20 kg payload. Designed specifically for university and industrial robotics research, it comes in two variants: Dingo-O with omni-directional wheels and Dingo-D with differential drive. The low profile makes it suitable for research into under-furniture navigation, automated guided vehicle prototyping, and indoor logistics research in environments with height constraints.

Clearpath is the academic robotics market's most respected brand, with decades of university deployments and an extensive library of ROS packages, documentation, and community support. The Dingo benefits from this ecosystem even as one of Clearpath's smaller platforms.

Key Specifications

• Height: 110 mm
• Payload: 20 kg
• Variants: Dingo-O (omni) and Dingo-D (differential)
• Software: ROS and ROS2 compatible, extensive Clearpath documentation
• Target: Indoor research and laboratory environments

Use Cases

Dingo is well suited to multi-robot swarm research, indoor mapping studies, mobile manipulation as a low base platform, and teaching undergraduate and postgraduate robotics students. UK universities using Clearpath platforms include Bristol, Edinburgh, Oxford, and UCL, among others.

The flat, low profile makes Dingo well suited to research exploring ground-level sensing and under-obstacle navigation, which is a niche but active area of mobile robot research.

Buying Used

Secondary market availability is limited but occasional university disposals do appear. Clearpath's strong documentation means that configuration and maintenance of used Dingo units is relatively straightforward for technically capable buyers.

Alternatives to Consider

AgileX RANGER MINI 3 offers significantly higher payload at a higher price with omni-directional mobility. Elephant Robotics myAGV is an entry-level alternative for buyers with modest budgets who need a basic research AGV without the Clearpath support infrastructure. For buyers needing outdoor capability, Clearpath Jackal is the natural Clearpath upgrade path, sharing the same software ecosystem and ROS documentation standards as Dingo while providing outdoor-rated performance. Multi-robot research groups should note that Clearpath offers discounted institutional pricing for fleet purchases, which can make the Dingo more cost-competitive when acquiring several units simultaneously.