A million viewers watch robots challenge crossing world's longest catwalk

A recent livestream about a Chinese humanoid robot walking on the world's longest catwalk in Hubei province in wind and rain attracted more than 1 million views.

The catwalk, with a total length of 12 kilometers, connects the two main towers of the under-construction Yanji Yangtze River Bridge.

"Since the catwalk is an open-mesh, flexible, unpaved surface, combined with the swaying caused by high-altitude winds, it posed multiple challenges for the robot's motion control, visual perception, self-balancing, and obstacle avoidance," said Liu Bingzheng, co-founder of Hangzhou Flycode Technology, producer of the robot.

While navigating the catwalk, it walked steadily and occasionally waved and blew kisses, even sharing a warm hug with the livestream host.

The distance between the two towers is 1,860 meters, with the highest point reaching 184 meters. Two robot dogs also participated in the challenge.

The bridge links Huanggang and Ezhou in Hubei and will service the Ezhou Huahu International Airport.