Dozens of robots climbed more than 3,100 stone steps on Mount Tai, in Shandong province, China, on 2 November 2026, in the first robot competition organised by China Media Group (CMG). The event brought together nearly 90 teams and turned a historic pilgrimage route into a test of endurance, balance and locomotion outside the laboratory.
The Hongmen–Zhongtianmen course is about 3.9 kilometres long, with more than 3,100 steps and an altitude gain of about 600 metres. As well as speed, the event included carrying fragile loads such as eggs and watermelons, and categories for humanoids, quadrupeds and exoskeletons, plus an all-terrain exploration challenge.
Results
- Quadruped speed: Beijing Lingyi Technology, a Unitree subsidiary, in 43 minutes and 41 seconds. According to CCTV, most tourists take at least two hours on the same route.
- Quadruped load-carrying: Lingsi Intelligent Lingshi team, in 1 hour, 51 minutes and 29 seconds, with 400 points.
- Humanoid speed, main leg: Beijing-based Zhishen Lingyue team, in 27 minutes and 26 seconds. AFP notes that the humanoid course was shorter than the full course.
- Humanoid challenge leg: Zhishen Lingyue, in 55 minutes and 34 seconds, winning the “Peak Conqueror” award.
Not everything went smoothly. CCTV footage reported by AFP shows a bandana-wearing humanoid collapsed on the route, with engineers rushing to repair it, and another robot tumbling down a flight of stairs. According to Root-Nation, citing a Global Times post, a Unitree G1 overheated mid-climb and had to be carried down on a stretcher; Unitree, cited in the same report, asked that results from third-party-modified robots not be confused with the performance of its official products.
What the race demonstrates, for now, is locomotion over real, irregular terrain — not that humanoid robots are ready for continuous work outside controlled environments. Organisers described Mount Tai's rocky terrain as a “natural extreme testing ground”, an organisers' assessment, not a scientific conclusion.
Image credit: image published by AFP, via TechXplore, from CCTV footage of the Mount Tai competition.
Sources
- AFP via TechXplore: “Laden with eggs, robots race up sacred Chinese mountain”
- China Media Group / CEMSG: “The Inaugural CMG World Robot Mount Tai Climbing Competition”
- Root-Nation: report on the Unitree G1 overheating and Unitree's position
- CCTV+: video of the start of the Mount Tai competition
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public posts and internet sources listed below. Consult the original sources to confirm the details.
Muse
