Crawling, climbing, flying, swimming or hopping in space – the Center for Robotics at ETH Zurich shows what robots are capable of today in the historic machine hall.
At the RobotX Inovation Day on 14 June 2024, partners from research and industry had the opportunity to gain an insight into current research areas at ETH Zurich and experience the next generation of robots. Research groups and start-ups presented themselves in the newly renovated historic machine hall on the ETH Zentrum campus. Visitors were able to view robotics applications from the fields of assistance, mobility, logistics, construction and inspection. On display were snake-shaped, one- and four-legged robots, aerial and underwater drones, autonomous football-playing robots and self-driving Matchbox cars.
The Soft Robotics Lab exhibited a hand robot that was produced in a single pass using 3D printing and consists of polymers of different strengths and elasticity. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Tamara Pinco & Martin L?ffel) NomadZ - A team of 7 robots from the NomadZ student team will compete in the annual Robot Football World Championship. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Tamara Pinco & Martin L?ffel)
Insight into the state of research
Scientists from ETH Zurich's Centre for Robotics gave short presentations on current research projects. One topic was novel mechanical constructions in robotics that are modelled on the movement mechanisms of animals and plants. In the case of autonomous robots, researchers are working on how robots can recognise their surroundings and intelligently process information in order to generate instructions for action. The areas of application range from assistance in the home to logistics in rough terrain and inspections under water to exploration missions in space. For safety-critical applications in particular, the challenge is to ensure that the systems react correctly despite factors that are difficult to predict - for example, self-driving cars that have to take into account how other road users might behave. Simulations, so-called digital twins, play a central role in the testing and training of autonomous robotic systems.
Pitching to investors
In addition to partners from research and industry, investors were also invited to the RobotX Innovation Day. As part of the "Innovation Series", an entrepreneurship initiative of ETH Zurich and UBS, 16 spin-offs and start-ups from ETH Zurich were able to present their developments to investors in two-minute pitches. At the concluding drinks reception there was an opportunity to get to know each other.
Multidisciplinary research and training platform
The RobotX Innovation Day is part of the ETH+ RobotX initiative launched in 2019, which aims to position ETH and Switzerland at the forefront of robotics research institutions worldwide. The multidisciplinary initiative of the departments MAVT, ITET, INFK, USYS, MATL, ARCH, BAUG and HEST resulted in the Centre for Robotics. This aims to develop ETH's strong competences in robotics into a joint research and education platform. In addition to events for exchange with industry, the Center for Robotics also initiates outreach programmes aimed at participants outside the ETH Domain.
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