# Marc Raibert

> Source: https://aiwiki.ai/wiki/marc_raibert
> Updated: 2026-06-08
> Categories: AI Companies, People
> From AI Wiki (https://aiwiki.ai), a free encyclopedia of artificial intelligence. Quote with attribution.

Marc Raibert (born December 22, 1949) is an American roboticist, engineer, and entrepreneur who is widely regarded as a pioneer of dynamic legged locomotion, the study of how machines can walk, run, and balance by using motion rather than static stability. He founded [Boston Dynamics](/wiki/boston_dynamics) in 1992 as a spinoff from the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/wiki/mit) (MIT) and led the company for nearly three decades, overseeing the creation of well-known robots such as the [BigDog](/wiki/bigdog) quadruped, the [Atlas](/wiki/atlas_robot) humanoid, and the [Spot](/wiki/spot_robot) four-legged robot. In 2022 he founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute, now the [Robotics and AI Institute](/wiki/rai_institute) (RAI Institute), where he serves as founder and executive director.[1][2]

Before turning to industry, Raibert was a professor at [Carnegie Mellon University](/wiki/carnegie_mellon_university) (CMU) and at MIT, where his Leg Laboratory built the first self-balancing hopping and running machines and helped establish much of the scientific basis for highly dynamic robots.[2][3]

## Education

Raibert studied electrical engineering at [Northeastern University](/wiki/northeastern_university), earning a Bachelor of Science (BSEE) in 1973. He then pursued graduate work at MIT, completing his PhD in 1977 with a dissertation titled "Motor control and learning by the state space model," supervised by Berthold K. P. Horn and Whitman Richards.[3][4] His doctoral research, which combined ideas from neuroscience, control theory, and [artificial intelligence](/wiki/artificial_intelligence), foreshadowed the blend of biology and engineering that would define his later work on legged machines.[4]

## Academic career and the Leg Laboratory

After his doctorate, Raibert worked as a researcher affiliated with the California Institute of Technology and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before joining Carnegie Mellon University as an associate professor of computer science and robotics. In 1980 he founded the Leg Laboratory at CMU to study how machines could use [legged locomotion](/wiki/legged_locomotion) and active balance.[2][3] In 1986 Raibert moved to MIT as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and the Leg Lab moved with him, becoming part of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[3]

Raibert's central insight was dynamic balance: rather than keeping a robot statically stable at every instant, his machines stayed upright the way a person hops or runs, by continuously correcting their motion. The lab's hopping machines, including a one-legged "pogo stick" hopper and later two-legged and four-legged runners, demonstrated that a small set of simple control principles could produce running, leaping, and even rudimentary gymnastics.[3][5] In 1986 he summarized this research in the book Legged Robots That Balance, published by MIT Press, which became a foundational text in the field.[5]

## Boston Dynamics

In 1992 Raibert founded Boston Dynamics as a spinoff from MIT. The company initially focused on physics-based simulation software, including a human-simulation product called DI-Guy, and on consulting work before shifting toward building physical robots under contracts from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ([DARPA](/wiki/darpa)).[1][6] Over the following two decades it produced a series of increasingly capable machines that carried the Leg Lab's dynamic-balance philosophy out of the laboratory and into the field.

| Robot | Introduced | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BigDog | 2005 | Four-legged, gasoline-powered pack robot developed with DARPA funding for rough-terrain mobility |
| LittleDog | c. 2006 | Small quadruped built as a research platform for studies of learning and locomotion |
| PETMAN | 2011 | Bipedal humanoid built to test protective clothing, a precursor to Atlas |
| Cheetah and WildCat | 2012 to 2013 | Fast-running quadrupeds; Cheetah set a legged-robot speed record on a treadmill |
| [Atlas](/wiki/atlas_robot) | 2013 | Bipedal [humanoid robot](/wiki/humanoid_robot), originally built for the DARPA Robotics Challenge |
| [Spot](/wiki/spot_robot) | 2015 to 2019 | Agile quadruped that later became Boston Dynamics' first commercial robot |
| Handle | 2017 | Wheeled-legged robot designed for box handling and logistics |
| Stretch | 2021 | Mobile manipulator for unloading trucks and moving warehouse boxes |

During Raibert's tenure the company changed ownership several times. In December 2013 it was acquired by [Google](/wiki/google), later part of [Alphabet](/wiki/alphabet). After Alphabet decided to divest its robotics holdings, [SoftBank](/wiki/softbank) Group acquired Boston Dynamics in June 2017.[1][6] In December 2020 [Hyundai Motor Group](/wiki/hyundai_motor_group) agreed to take a controlling 80 percent stake in a deal that valued the company at about $1.1 billion, with the acquisition completed in June 2021; SoftBank retained roughly 20 percent.[7][8] Through all of these transitions Boston Dynamics remained based in the Boston area and kept its engineering team largely intact.

Raibert served as chief executive for most of the company's history. In 2019 he handed the CEO role to his longtime colleague Robert Playter and became chairman, a position from which he focused on long-term research and the launch of his next venture. Playter himself announced in February 2026 that he would step down as CEO after about three decades at the company.[9]

## Robotics and AI Institute

In August 2022, Hyundai Motor Group and Boston Dynamics announced the launch of the Boston Dynamics AI Institute, with Raibert as its founder and executive director and an initial investment of more than $400 million.[10][11] Based in the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the institute was created to pursue fundamental, long-horizon research at the intersection of robotics and artificial intelligence, organized around themes that Raibert described as cognitive AI, athletic AI, organic hardware design, and ethics and policy.[6][10]

Raibert framed the institute's mission as creating "future generations of advanced robots and intelligent machines that are smarter, more agile, perceptive and safer than anything that exists today."[10] The organization was later renamed, first to The AI Institute and then to the Robotics and AI Institute (RAI Institute), a change Raibert said was meant to emphasize that the work is about how robotics and AI fit together rather than about AI alone. By early 2025 it was operating under the RAI name.[2][12]

In February 2025 the RAI Institute and Boston Dynamics announced a partnership to use [reinforcement learning](/wiki/reinforcement_learning) to expand the athletic and manipulation skills of the new electric Atlas humanoid, reuniting Raibert's two organizations.[12] The institute also reported research results such as substantially increasing the running speed of Boston Dynamics' Spot robot through learned controllers.[13]

## Research philosophy

Across his career Raibert has pursued a consistent vision: building robots whose movement approaches or exceeds the agility of animals and humans. He has often described his goal as advancing bipedal and quadrupedal robots toward a "supernatural" level of mobility, drawing on biology for inspiration while relying on engineering and, increasingly, machine learning to achieve it.[2][14] He is also known for an emphasis on demonstrating real, physical robots rather than relying solely on simulation, and for a playful public style, exemplified by the widely viewed videos of Boston Dynamics machines dancing and performing parkour.[14]

## Recognition

Raibert has received some of the highest honors in robotics and engineering.

| Year | Honor |
| --- | --- |
| 2008 | Elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering |
| 2022 | Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award for Technology |
| 2022 | Named a Pioneer in Robotics by the IEEE |
| 2025 | IEEE Robotics and Automation Award for dynamic legged locomotion |

He is a founding fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008, with a citation recognizing his "biomechanically motivated analysis, synthesis, control, and application of multi-legged robots."[2][3] In 2022 he received the Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award for Technology, one of the field's most prestigious honors, and was named a Pioneer in Robotics by the IEEE.[2][16] In 2025 the IEEE awarded him its Robotics and Automation Award "for pioneering and leading the field of dynamic legged locomotion."[15]

As of 2026, Raibert continues to lead the RAI Institute as its founder and executive director and remains chairman of Boston Dynamics.[2][9]

## References

1. Wikipedia. "Boston Dynamics." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Dynamics
2. Robotics and AI Institute. "Marc Raibert." https://rai-inst.com/about/leadership/marc-raibert/
3. Wikipedia. "Marc Raibert." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Raibert
4. MIT Center for Brains, Minds and Machines. "Marc Raibert." https://cbmm.mit.edu/about/people/raibert
5. Marc Raibert. Legged Robots That Balance. MIT Press, 1986. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262513524/legged-robots-that-balance/
6. IEEE Spectrum. "Boston Dynamics AI Institute Targets Basic Research." https://spectrum.ieee.org/boston-dynamics-ai-institute-hyundai
7. Boston Dynamics. "Hyundai Motor Group Completes Acquisition of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank." https://bostondynamics.com/news/hyundai-motor-group-completes-acquisition-of-boston-dynamics-from-softbank/
8. Hyundai Newsroom. "Hyundai Motor Group Completes Acquisition of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank." https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/newsroom/detail/hyundai-motor-group-completes-acquisition-of-boston-dynamics-from-softbank-0000000516
9. TechCrunch. "Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter steps down after 30 years at the company." February 10, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/boston-dynamics-ceo-robert-playter-steps-down-after-30-years-at-the-company/
10. The Robot Report. "Hyundai launches Boston Dynamics AI Institute." https://www.therobotreport.com/hyundai-launches-boston-dynamics-ai-institute/
11. Hyundai Motor Group / PR Newswire. "Hyundai Motor Group Launches Boston Dynamics AI Institute to Spearhead Advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics." https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyundai-motor-group-launches-boston-dynamics-ai-institute-to-spearhead-advancements-in-artificial-intelligence--robotics-301604832.html
12. Boston Dynamics. "Boston Dynamics and the Robotics and AI Institute Partner." https://bostondynamics.com/news/boston-dynamics-and-the-robotics-ai-institute-partner/
13. IEEE Spectrum. "Robotics and AI Institute Triples Speed of Boston Dynamics Spot." https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-institute
14. TEDxMIT. "Marc Raibert." https://tedx.mit.edu/speaker/marc-raibert
15. IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. "Marc Raibert to Receive the 2025 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award." http://www.ieee-ras.org/about-ras/latest-news/marc-raibert-to-receive-the-2025-ieee-robotics-and-automation-technical-field-award
16. The Robot Report. "Meet the 6 Engelberger Award winners." 2022. https://www.therobotreport.com/meet-the-6-engelberger-award-winners/