Taishan Mountain to host inaugural world robot competition

The inaugural CMG World Robot Mount Tai (Taishan) Competition, set to take place in Tai'an, East China's Shandong province, on Oct 29, bridges ancient heritage and cutting-edge technology.

The race will be held along the classic hiking route from Hongmen to Zhongtianmen — about 3.8 kilometers featuring more than 3,100 stone steps.

The competition features two main categories: speed racing and special challenges, including four official events for humanoid robots, legged robots, load-carrying legged robots, and exoskeleton-assisted climbing, plus one all-terrain scouting challenge.

These events test robots' adaptability, autonomous navigation, and stable operation in complex environments. Preparations are now largely complete.

Held on the most revered of China's Five Great Mountains, the route passes numerous cliff inscriptions and ancient sites, creating a new model that blends technology, culture and sport.

The challenging terrain — featuring continuous steps, steep slopes, and narrow passages — places high demands on robots' perception, decision-making, and execution capabilities.

During the event, the city of Tai'an will host an embodied intelligence industry development forum, an embodied intelligence industry expo, and technology-matchmaking sessions.

Leading enterprises, universities, research institutes, and investment institutions from home and abroad will be invited to participate, creating a platform for technical exchange, product display, supply-demand matching, and resource cooperation — enabling two-way empowerment between the competition and industrial development.

A short-video contest for the robot Taishan Mountain challenge will be held to showcase competition highlights and expand its reach and influence.

In recent years, Tai'an has laid a solid foundation for robotics and embodied intelligence. It is one of China's 23 cities developing data labeling and leads Shandong in the market-oriented reform of data elements.

Hosting the inaugural CMG World Robot Mount Tai (Taishan) Competition will help Tai'an seize future industrial opportunities and boost its competitiveness, the event's organizers said. The city will leverage this event to deepen industry-university-research collaboration and attract high-quality robotics projects.