Born as an initiative of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics, a project led by EPFL in collaboration with ETH Zurich, the Swiss Robotics Day has grown into a key event for professionals and enthusiasts in the field. It brings together experts from research and industry, providing a platform for exchanging experiences, ideas and emerging technologies.
During the event, Prof. Anna Valente, Head of the Automation, Robotics and Machines Laboratory, delivered a talk titled What if it breaks?, accompanied by the robot GRACE, a climbing quadruped designed to perform inspections in harsh environments. GRACE was lowered directly onto the stage to demonstrate its operational capabilities.
The UMA platform was also presented. Winner of the Swiss Dinno Award 2021, UMA-2 (Universal Machine Automata – Model 2) is a wheeled mobile robot designed to support operators during inspection and repair activities in challenging conditions. Capable of moving across both horizontal and vertical surfaces, it can also adapt to curved geometries such as pillars and tanks. These robotic solutions mark an important step toward technologies that enhance human work, reducing risk exposure and enabling safer, more efficient operations even in the most complex environments.
Prof. Anna Valente with robot GRACE
At the same time, the SUPSI Autonomous Robotics group of the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA USI-SUPSI) showcased TIAGo, a social robot capable of interacting with people in real-world public settings. The robot can navigate autonomously, detect nearby individuals, and use predictive models of human intent to identify those most likely to engage. When the probability of interaction is high, TIAGo approaches and initiates a friendly social behavior, offering snacks as a gesture of interaction. The demonstration highlighted the potential of context-aware social robots to foster natural, proactive and engaging human–robot interactions.
Autonomous Robotics team with robot TIAGo
The 2025 edition of the event was organized by Innovation Booster Robotics with the support of EPFL, the Swiss Robotics Association (SRA), and the Robotics and Factory Automation division of Swissmem.