For promoting the development of rod climbing robot, carry out analyzing the robot research status and outlook. The existing climbing pole robots are divided into four categories, including rolling rod climbing robot, gripping rod climbing robot, bionic rod climbing robot and adsorption rod climbing robot. The focus is on the working characteristics and some representative research results in the field of domestic and foreign rod climbing robots. Based on the comparative analysis of the performance of the four types of rod climbing robots, its technical difficulties are put forward. Besides, combining with the development of the current new technology, the future research direction of the rod climbing robot is predicted from the aspects of new technology, multifunction, modularization, independence, and intellectualization. The study has high practical value.