A wheeled-legged robot built by Hangzhou-based DEEP Robotics went along on a biodiversity expedition in the Ailao Mountains of southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Company photos show the team working with the LYNX M20S on Aug. 28, 2026, in dense forest and on steep slopes.
Global Times called it the first real-world scientific exploration use of an embodied AI robot. The expedition, organized jointly by ifeng.com’s scientific exploration documentary program and the China Association for Scientific Expedition, focused on biodiversity research in a region known for its rich mix of species and hard terrain.
Support for Difficult Terrain
The robot worked in places that are difficult or unsafe for people to reach, handling route scouting, biological observation, image recording and supply transport, the company said in a statement sent to Global Times on Wednesday, Oct. 14. According to DEEP Robotics, the M20S has an IP67 rating for dust and water, runs in temperatures from -30 C to 55 C, and can carry a sustained 35-kilogram load with up to 3.5 hours of battery life.
Its most notable result was footage of Monotropa uniflora, known as ghost pipe, a plant that shows aboveground for only about 40 days a year, according to the expedition account. Chinese scientists said the footage adds important data for botanical research, Global Times reported.
The team also used the robot to film western black-crested gibbons, which live in old-growth forest at roughly 2,200 to 2,900 meters and are sensitive to human activity. Because the machine is small and quiet, researchers moved an observation point about 20 meters closer and recorded the gibbons leaping, foraging and calling.
Forest covers about 85.1% of the Ailao Mountains and vehicles can’t reach many sites, according to a DEEP Robotics press release distributed Oct. 17, so the robot also hauled imaging gear and small field supplies. The release described the trip as “a practical test of how mobile robotics can support biodiversity research in difficult-to-access environments.”
Li Jie, executive vice president of the China Association for Scientific Expedition, told Global Times the technology is bringing places that were previously inaccessible or impossible to observe continuously into the scope of scientific study.
Futurism was more skeptical on Oct. 18. It said photos show researchers “using the robot like a pack mule to carry field and imaging supplies,” suggested a human scientist could film the plant and gibbons just as well, and noted the M20S battery lasts 2.5 to 3.5 hours.
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