wire - news in brief

Racing cars, robots, aircraft: Bachelor's students in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering spend two semesters working on a project in teams.

The quadrupedal robot ANYmal went back to school and has learned a lot. researchers used machine learning to teach it new skills: the robot can now climb over obstacles and successfully negotiate pitfalls.

It abseils down from a height and swings around obstacles: Robot Avocado will one day maneuver through the canopy of the rainforest and collect data for researchers about this difficult-to-access habitat .

A doctoral researcher studying architecture at ETH Zurich is using 3D printing to produce lightweight insulation building components from cement-free mineral foams derived from recycled industrial waste. These could cut heating and cooling costs for buildings, and encourage more efficient use of construction materials.

In a milestone for artificial intelligence (AI), the AI system -Swift-, designed by researchers, has beaten the world champions in drone racing - a result that seemed unattainable just a few years ago. The AI-piloted drone was trained in a simulated environment. Real-world applications include environmental monitoring or disaster response.

An ETH Zurich architectural centrepiece - the machine laboratory- has been renovated. The historically significant machine hall has been extensively restored to its original condition.

STUDENT PROJECT - Intelligent robots - for search and rescue, exploration and surveillance - are a new and challenging field. Unique and versatile, could robot snakes advance the abilities of machines in these fields? Serpentine robots are a ground-breaking innovation in robotics. These flexible and slithering machines excel at navigating complex and confined spaces, offering immense potential in various fields.

Elythor, an EPFL spin-off, has developed a new drone whose wing shape can adapt to wind conditions and flight position in real time, reducing the drone's energy consumption.

Georg Rauter develops micro robots as tools for brain surgeons and dentists, and for operations on bones.

Elvis Nava teaches robots to carry out oral and written commands. To this end, he sends them to "training camps" where they learn to combine image, text and motion data.

The robotic explorer GLIMPSE, created at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, has made it into the final round of a competition for prospecting resources in space.

Swiss roboticists and economists from EPFL and University of Lausanne developed a method for estimating the probability of jobs being automated by future intelligent robots and suggesting career transitions with lower risks and minimal retraining effort. When it comes to the future of intelligent robots, the first question people ask is often: how many jobs will they make disappear?

Robotic wheelchairs may soon be able to move through crowds smoothly and safely. As part of CrowdBot, an project, researchers are exploring the technical, ethical and safety issues related to this kind of technology. The aim of the project is to eventually help the disabled get around more easily. Shoppers at Lausanne's weekly outdoor market may have come across one of EPFL's inventions in the past few weeks - a newfangled device that's part wheelchair, part robot.

From robots that offer solace to algorithms that help judges make fact-based decisions, robotics and machine learning are entering new domains that were once the preserve of humans. Five years ago, while studying in Pennsylvania for a Master's degree in robotics, Alexis E. Block was asked to choose a topic for her thesis.

ETH Zurich supports art in construction, and, as part of a project competition, has selected art projects by Maya Rochat and Yves Netzhammer that take an innovative approach to reflecting on teaching and research in the two ETH buildings BSS and ML-FHK.

EPFL engineers have developed a drone with a feathered wing and tail that give it unprecedented flight agility. The northern goshawk is a fast, powerful raptor that flies effortlessly through forests. This bird was the design inspiration for the next-generation drone developed by scientifics of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems of EPFL led by Dario Floreano.

The automation of work is increasing at a tremendous pace. But how well do technology and humans really work together in a digitised world?

The technology pioneered by the ETH spin-off incon.ai allows blocks to be positioned with pinpoint accuracy, creating structures with aesthetic designs and augmented acoustics. Shadow plays, wavelike patterns or acoustic effects: bricks can be placed at special angles to create aesthetic architectural designs.

Robots allow people to interact with each other without physical contact. This means they can protect us from infectious diseases, which has been given too little consideration in robotics, says Brad Nelson. The most popular phrase that has entered our vocabulary in the past few months is "social distancing", more accurately termed, "physical distancing".

ETH Pioneer Fellow Marcel Schuck is developing a robotic gripper that can manipulate small and fragile objects without touching them. The technology is based on sound waves. The small installation that Marcel Schuck has assembled on his workbench is reminiscent of a school physics lesson: an arrangement, comprising two semi-spheres and resembling a pair of headphones, is connected to a circuit board carrying microchips.

Mirko Kovac is heading the new Materials and Technology Center of Robotics of Empa and Imperial College London.

Yesterday evening, tiny robots developed by EPFL spin-off Foldaway Haptics were the center of attention at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The crew of the International Space Station has taken delivery of a haptic interface designed by EPFL spin-off Force Dimension. Astronauts could one day use the device, based on the famous delta robot developed at EPFL by Reymond Clavel, to control unmanned Martian and lunar rovers from afar. In a project called METERON, the European Space Agency (ESA) is exploring how advanced robots could be used to repair satellites in orbit or probe hostile environments like the Martian and lunar surfaces.

EPFL scientists have successfully tested new neuroprosthetic technology that combines robotic control with users' voluntary control, opening avenues in the new interdisciplinary field of shared control for neuroprosthetic technologies. EPFL scientists are developing new approaches for improved control of robotic hands - in particular for amputees - that combines individual finger control and automation for improved grasping and manipulation.

EPFL will open its doors to the public on 14-15 September as it celebrates its 50th year as a federal institute of technology.

Over the next three years, researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, University of Cambridge, École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI-Paris) and Empa will be working together with the Dutch Polymer manufacturer SupraPolix on the next generation of robots: (soft) robots that 'feel pain' and heal themselves.