Unitree's A2 quadruped wins Mount Tai speed race in 43:41 as LINXAI takes load-bearing crown

Unitree's A2 won the speed race and LINXAI's D50 the load-bearing event at the first CMG World Robot Mount Tai Competition.

A Unitree A2 quadruped has won the legged-robot speed race at the first CMG World Robot Mount Tai Climbing Competition, covering the 3.9-kilometre course of more than 3,100 stone steps in 43 minutes 41 seconds. The machine, entered by Beijing Lingyi Technology, a Unitree subsidiary, climbed from Hongmen to Zhongtianmen fully autonomously, guided by real-time perception and onboard decision-making.

The official time includes a two-minute penalty; the A2's raw time was 41 minutes 41 seconds. A second Unitree team, Shanghai Gaoyi, took silver in the speed race with another A2 and silver in the load-bearing race with a B2, which carried 66 kilograms of effective load, 74 kilograms including its frame, on the Wanxianlou to Doumugong stage.

The load-bearing title went to LINXAI Robotics' Lingshi team and its D50 quadruped, which scored 400 points and finished in 1 hour 51 minutes 29 seconds. The team's product director, Peng Shaowu, said the robot carried 70 kilograms of supplies and basket, above its 50-kilogram rated payload, and credited a long-leg design that lets it climb two steps at a time and a motion-control algorithm tuned for heavy loads with a high centre of gravity.

About 90 teams entered the competition, organised by state broadcaster China Media Group, and CCTV's livestreams drew more than 16 million views. The humanoid speed race went to the Zhishen Lingyue team's Yinyi NE01 in 27 minutes 26 seconds on the main Hongmen Square to Doumugong segment. Unitree's G1 humanoid, by contrast, overheated midway and was carried down the mountain on a stretcher.