I love dogs. I love a good hike. So a race where robot dogs sprint up one of China’s most famous mountains is basically my dream sporting event. On Nov. 2, the first CMG World Robot Mount Tai Climbing Competition took over the stone stairs of Mount Tai in Tai’an, Shandong. Nearly 90 teams showed up with humanoids, four-legged robots and exoskeletons. The robot dogs stole the show.
3,100 steps in 43 minutes
The quadruped speed race ran from Hongmen to Zhongtianmen, the mountain’s halfway gate. That is about 3.9 km and more than 3,100 stone steps, climbing roughly 600 m. Most human hikers need two hours or more. According to Global Times, the winner was a Unitree A2 entered by Beijing Lingyi Technology, a Unitree subsidiary, in 43 minutes and 41 seconds. Robot news site RobotJia reports that the time includes a 2-minute penalty and that the A2 climbed autonomously. Another A2, from Shanghai Gaoyi Technology, took second.
The A2 is no toy. It is an industrial quadruped of about 42 kg, built to handle 30 cm steps and 45-degree slopes at up to 3.7 meters per second. Ancient, uneven, tourist-polished stairs are exactly the kind of test that lab demos skip.
Good dogs carry things
My favorite event was load-carrying. Teams hauled cargo, including eggs and watermelons, up a 3.3 km route with more than 2,100 steps, simulating the porters who still carry supplies up Mount Tai on their shoulders. Per CCTV+, the scenic area produces about 20,000 tonnes of waste a year, and most of it comes down by hand. The Lingshi team won in 1 hour 51 minutes. Gaoyi was second with a Unitree B2 carrying 66 kg. A robot that can do this job without breaking the eggs is a real-world win, not just a stunt.
And then there was the most dog moment of the day. Xinhua filmed one robot dog that got so far ahead of its human teammate that it had to stop and wait for him. Every dog owner on a leash walk knows that look.
The humanoids had a harder day
The two-legged robots ran a shorter 1.6 km stretch with about 600 steps. Zhishen Lingyue’s robot won in 27 minutes 26 seconds, according to 21st Century Business Herald. Others did not do as well. Reports describe one humanoid collapsing and another tumbling down the steps. A Unitree G1 overheated and dropped out, though Unitree says that one was a third-party developer’s entry, not its own team. Turns out legs are hard, and four of them help.
Want a Unitree dog of your own?
You cannot buy the industrial A2 on Amazon, but you can get its smaller sibling. The Unitree Go2 Pro is a consumer quadruped that climbs stairs, follows you around and does tricks, sold by Unitree’s own store on Amazon. It will not haul watermelons up a mountain, but it will make you the most popular person at the park.
Get the Unitree Go2 Pro robot dog on Amazon ($3,990).
GadgetKing take
This was a publicity event, sure. But racing robots up ancient, uneven mountain stairs is a smart, brutal test, and the dogs crushed it. Robot pack mules for mountains, disaster zones and delivery are clearly getting closer. My real dog is still undefeated on treats and naps.
Sources: Global Times, CCTV+, Euronews, Xinhua, The Paper, RobotJia and 21st Century Business Herald. Images: New China TV (livestream stills, 01 to 04) and Unitree via Amazon (05).
More robot dogs and Unitree: the Unitree H2-X kung fu robot, China’s Humanoid Robot Games, Jennie the robot puppy and the Petoi Quaddle desk robot dog.
