3,100 steps up a sacred mountain: 90 robot teams race where emperors used to climb

Mount Tai has been climbed by emperors for three thousand years. On 2 November it hosted a new kind of pilgrim: nearly 90 robotics teams from across China, racing their machines up the ancient Hongmen-Zhongtianmen trail — 3.9 kilometres, more than 3,100 stone steps, 600 metres of climbing, on slippery, irregular stairs deliberately chosen to push robots far beyond laboratory floors. In the inaugural CMG World Robot Mount Tai Challenge, Beijing Lingyi Technology's quadruped won the four-legged speed race in 43 minutes 41 seconds; the Zhishen Lingyue humanoid took the main humanoid leg in 27 minutes 26 seconds and earned the 'Peak Conqueror Award'; and a load-carrying quadruped hauled its cargo up in 1 hour 51 minutes. The point is practical as much as playful: machines that can climb a mountain can one day carry supplies, assist rescuers and help people move.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation