Climbing a 6,200m high mountain, the Unitree G1 robot surprised the technology world

On June 5, the Pemba project marked a notable milestone in the field of humanoid robots when a customized version of the Unitree G1 robot named "Pemba" successfully conquered Chimborazo peak in Ecuador.

This is a mountain about 6,200m high and is considered the point on the Earth's surface furthest from the center of the planet due to the influence of the bulge in the equatorial region.

This is the first leg in the "Triple Crown" campaign, a project designed to test the limits of robot autonomy in the most harsh environments on the planet.

Unlike demonstrations that usually take place in factories, laboratories or tightly controlled areas, this project takes robots to real-life terrain with high altitudes, extreme temperatures and challenging operating conditions.

The person behind the project is engineer Pablo, who gave up studying at a prestigious engineering school in France to participate in conservation activities with WWF in Congo and the Amazon forest. It was his field experiences that helped him realize the limitations of most current robots.

According to Pablo, most robots that use wheels or crawlers only work effectively on relatively flat surfaces. Meanwhile, about 97% of the Earth's surface is considered inaccessible to traditional robotic platforms.

This creates a need to develop more mobile systems, capable of overcoming complex terrain similar to humans.

So the idea of ​​the Pemba project is not simply to send robots to the mountains. The group's long-term goal is to create "walking cameras" to serve nature conservation. By taking advantage of small computers using solar energy and the Starlink satellite network, the group hopes to build highly flexible autonomous monitoring systems.

However, turning this idea into reality is not simple. The journey to the top of Chimborazo showed a significant gap between the robot's current capabilities and the goal of full autonomy.

According to the development team, the conquest journey lasts about 16 hours. During this process, the Unitree G1 robot can walk on its own on terrain with slopes less than 30 degrees. When encountering steeper or too complicated areas, expedition members must carry robots to overcome obstacles.

That means recent success is not a completely automatic climb. However, the research team sees this as an important step to continue improving the system's capabilities. New reinforcement learning algorithms are being trained to help robots handle steeper inclines, moving towards the goal of autonomous driving throughout the entire journey.

Besides the challenge of artificial intelligence, the harsh environment in high mountains also places strict requirements on hardware. Low temperatures, thin air and constant temperature changes can seriously affect electronic components.

To solve this problem, the Pemba team developed a custom ventilation system placed inside the robot's protective shell. The system is responsible for maintaining a stable operating temperature for important parts, while helping the robot adapt to both too cold and too hot environments.

This experience builds on previous testing of the Unitree G1. In a demonstration in the snow-covered Altay region, the robot operated in temperatures down to minus 47.4 degrees Celsius, showing remarkable resistance to extreme weather.

After completing the first milestone in Ecuador, the project is heading to Mauna Kea in Hawaii. If measured from the foot of the mountain located on the ocean floor, this is considered the highest mountain in the world. Success at Mauna Kea will be a stepping stone before the research team achieves its biggest goal: bringing a humanoid robot to Mount Everest.

The plan to conquer Everest is expected to be implemented with an expedition of 14 people and a leading logistics company in Nepal. Initially, the trip was scheduled for early this year but has now been temporarily postponed to October 2026.

However, this timeline may continue to be delayed to April 2027 due to legal problems.

Nepal currently does not have a legal framework for deploying robots on Mount Everest. This forced the Pemba team to work with local authorities to prepare for the climb that is expected to create a new milestone in the history of humanoid robots.