On June 5, a $23,809 humanoid robot named Pemba Jose Lani summited Ecuador's 20,702-foot Chimborazo, becoming the first known robot to climb a 6,000-meter peak. The Chinese-made Unitree G1 robot wore a jacket, gaiters, and sneakers fitted with microtraction spikes for the ascent. Researchers spent 72 hours preparing the machine. According to the team, the robot and its battery performed better than expected in the high-altitude conditions.
The idea originated during engineer Pablo Berlanga Boemare's work on a World Wildlife Fund conservation project in the Congo. Boemare and wildlife researcher Titania Freire-Laree organized the Chimborazo climb to demonstrate the hardware for their startup, Geologic Dome. The company wants to replace static trail cameras with roving humanoid robots for remote environmental monitoring. Boemare estimates that effectively recording the 1.4-billion-acre Amazon Rainforest would require 20 million fixed cameras. Drones cannot operate in dense forest canopies, making legged robots a practical alternative for tracking wildlife.
Acquiring the hardware proved difficult. Manufacturers initially refused to sell the team a robot, fearing bad press if the machine fell and broke. A Malaysia-based incubator called Eastworlds eventually provided the Unitree G1.
The team is now planning a "triple crown" of robotic alpinism, with the ultimate goal of sending the robot up Mount Everest. They are currently navigating regulatory hurdles in Nepal, aided by Freire-Laree's father, an IMFGA-certified guide with four Everest summits.
This summit demonstrates that relatively inexpensive, off-the-shelf humanoid robots can operate in extreme, freezing environments. If legged robots can reliably navigate alpine terrain, researchers can deploy them to track wildlife and monitor ecosystems in remote wilderness areas where drones and static cameras fail.