Speakers
Agathe Koller
Head of Institute for Lab Automation and Mechatronics, OST – Ostschweizer Fachhochschule
Agathe Koller studied Microengineering at the EPF Lausanne (CH) and, within a one-year exchange program, Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg (USA). She got a Master’s degree in Genie Industriel from the Institute National Polytechnique in Grenoble (F) and earned a PhD in robotics from the ETH Zurich (CH). She then worked for five years in the development of robotics platforms at Tecan, an internationally active laboratory automation company in Männedorf. She then became a professor of robotics and automation at the University of Applied Sciences in Rapperswil, also named OST – Ostschweizer Fachhochschule.
Agathe Koller is head of the Institute for Lab Automation and Mechatronics (ILT) as well as the Medtech Lab Competence Center at OST. Her main research topics include collaborative robotics and automation in life sciences. The institute ILT is specialized in robotics, industrial automation, autonomous systems, life sciences and medical engineering.
Agathe Koller is the program director for the Master of Science in Engineering with its eleven profiles in engineering, construction and planning. She is also expert and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW).
Alexander Schaepfer
Alexander joined Swisscom Ventures in 2016 as partner and focuses on investments in the fields of robotics, enterprise software applications and education technology. Prior to Swisscom, Alexander was co-founder and partner at Paris-based Aster Capital.
Before becoming a VC, Alexander headed up Strategy, M&A, Sales and Marketing at Alstom’s €5bn Power Service sector and prior to that held several operational management positions with ABB in the Middle East. He also co-founded and chaired a robotics start-up at ETH Zürich.
He holds a BA from the University of Applied Sciences in St. Gallen and a Masters in Finance (M.Sc.) from London Business School.
Alexander is a board-member in Swiss companies Anybotics, Flyability, Yokoy and xFarm and has led venture investments in the US, Israel, and Europe.
Anca Rusu
Programme Coordinator at Innovation Booster Robotics
As the EPFL focal point for robotics, Anca Rusu leads efforts to build a robust Swiss Robotics Community through initiatives like the Innovation Booster on Robotics and the creation of a Swiss Robotics Association. In this role, she coordinates EPFL Robotics Laboratory visits, promotes research to international media and scientific channels, and supports outreach events. Additionally, Anca oversees the Innovation Booster Robotics program, leading fundraising efforts, developing program strategies, and organizing key robotics events in Switzerland. Furthermore, she provides support for EPFL robotics education initiatives, ensuring equal opportunities and promoting the robotics master and doctoral programs through various communication channels.
With over six years of experience as a project manager at EPFL’s International Risk Governance Center, Anca has led interdisciplinary research endeavors focusing on the risk governance of emerging technologies. Her educational background in communication includes a Bachelor’s degree in communication and public relations, a Master’s degree in Social Sciences with a minor in communication and culture, and a Ph.D. centered on responsible communication concerning AI.
With a multifaceted background in communication and a proven track record in project management and community development, Anca is dedicated to driving innovation and fostering responsible communication practices within the industry.
Andrea Shenker-Wicki
Born in 1959 Andrea Schenker-Wicki holds a master degree in Food Engineering from ETH Zurich and a master degree in Business Administration from the University of Zurich. In 1990 she obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Freiburg in the field of Operations Research and Information Technology. She habilitated in 1996 at the University of St. Gallen with a thesis about the measurement of academic performance.
From 1990 to 1997 Andrea Schenker-Wicki worked at the National Emergency Operations Centre in Zurich, as a research associate and from 1993 on she also became its Head of the information office. For the subsequent four years, she led the section for higher education at the Federal Office of Education and Science (today: State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation).
From 2001 to 2015 she held a full professorship in Business Administration at the University of Zurich and acted as the Director of the Executive MBA as well as the CAS program “Essentials of management”. In addition, she was Vice President for Law and Economics at the University of Zurich between 2012 and 2014. On August 1, 2015, she became President of the University of Basel.
Andrea Schenker-Wicki has joined, among others, the Council of the Zürcher Fachhochschule (ZFH). Furthermore, she was part of the Austria Science Board (2010–2016) and the German Accreditation Council and presided over the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swiss Center of Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (OAQ) from 2007 to 2012. From 2012 to 2015, she was a member of the Swiss Science and Innovation Council. The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (2013) and the Asian University for Women (2023) awarded her honorary doctorates.
Andrea Schenker-Wicki has been President of the University of Basel since 1 August 2015. Her third term of office runs until 31 July 2027.
Credits picture:
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Andrea Schenker-Wicki, President of the University of Basel. (Photo: Universität Basel, Lucia Hunziker)
Aude Billard
Head of LASA Lab at EPFL and Lead of Innovation Booster Robotics
Prof. Aude Billard is head of the LASA laboratory at the School of Engineering at the Swiss Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).
A.B. holds a B.Sc and M.Sc. in Physics from EPFL (1995) and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence (1998) from the University of Edinburgh. A.B. was the recipient of the Intel Corporation Teaching award, the Swiss National Science Foundation career award, the Outstanding Young Person in Science and Innovation from the Swiss Chamber of Commerce, the IEEE-RAS Best Reviewer Award and IEEE-RAS Distinguished Service Award. A. B.’s research spans the fields of machine learning and robotics with a particular emphasis on learning from sparse data and performing fast and robust retrieval. This work finds application to robotics, human-robot / human-computer interaction and computational neuroscience. This research received best paper awards from IEEE T-RO, RSS, ICRA, IROS, Humanoids and ROMAN and was featured in premier venues (BBC, IEEE Spectrum, Wired).
Aude Billard leads the Swiss National Thematic Network Innovation Booster on Robotics, a half a million fund in support of industrial-academic partnerships, and is the current president-elect of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.
Auke Jan Ijspeert
Head of the Biorobotics Laboratory (BioRob) of EPFL
Auke Ijspeert is a full professor at the EPFL, and head of the Biorobotics Laboratory (BioRob). He has a B.Sc./M.Sc. in physics from the EPFL (1995), and a PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Edinburgh (1999). He carried out postdocs at IDSIA and EPFL, and at the University of Southern California (USC). He then became a research assistant professor at USC, and an external collaborator at ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research institute) in Japan. In 2002, he came back to the EPFL as an SNF assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in October 2009 and to full professor in April 2016. His primary affiliation is with the Institute of Bioengineering, and secondary affiliation with the Institute of Mechanical Engineering.
His research interests are at the intersection between robotics, computational neuroscience, nonlinear dynamical systems, and machine learning. He is interested in using numerical simulations and robots to get a better understanding of sensorimotor coordination in animals, and in using inspiration from biology to design novel types of robots and adaptive controllers. (see for instance Ijspeert et al Science 2007, Ijspeert Science 2014, and Nyakatura et al Nature 2019). He is also investigating how to assist people with limited mobility using exoskeletons and assistive furniture.
He is regularly invited to give talks on these topics (e.g. TED talk given at TED Global Geneva, Dec 8 2015). With his colleagues, he has received paper awards at ICRA2002, CLAWAR2005, IEEE Humanoids 2007, IEEE ROMAN 2014, CLAWAR 2015, SAB2018, and CLAWAR 2019.
He is an IEEE Fellow, member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science magazine, and associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics and for the International Journal of Humanoid Robotics. He has acted as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Robotics (2009-2013) and for Soft Robotics (2018-2021). He was a guest editor for the Proceedings of IEEE, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Autonomous Robots, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, and Biological Cybernetics. He has been the organizer of 7 international conferences (BioADIT2004, SAB2004, AMAM2005, BioADIT2006, LATSIS2006, SSRR2016, AMAM2019), and a program committee member of over 50 conferences.
Barbara Horvath
Ceo and Co-founder of Inveel GmbH
Barbara Horvath is the co-founder of Inveel – a startup focusing on the development of high-resolution sensory skins for robots, allowing them to experience the sensation of touch.
In 2012, she earned her Ph.D. at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan, and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary. Following her doctoral studies, she embarked on a postdoctoral journey, spending time at NIMS, Japan and CNRS, France before joining the Paul Scherrer Institute from 2015 to 2019. Transitioning to the corporate sector afterwards, she worked as an R&D Staff Engineer and Global Project Manager at major international companies. Since 2024 April, she is serving as CEO at Inveel GmbH.
Dario Floreano
Head of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL
Dario Floreano is director of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). Since 2010, he is the founding director of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Robotics, a research program that brings together more than 20 labs across Switzerland.
Prof. Floreano holds an M.A. in Vision, an M.S. in Neural Computation, and a PhD in Robotics. He has held research positions at Sony Computer Science Laboratory, at Caltech/JPL, and at Harvard University. His main research interests are Robotics and A.I. at the convergence of biology and engineering. Prof. Floreano made pioneering contributions to the fields of evolutionary robotics, aerial robotics, and soft robotics. He served in numerous advisory boards and committees, including the Future and Emerging Technologies division of the European Commission, the World Economic Forum Agenda Council, the International Society of Artificial Life, the International Neural Network Society, and in the editorial committee of several scientific journals. In addition, he helped spinning off two drone companies (senseFly and Flyability) and a non-for-profit portal on robotics and A.I. (RoboHub).
Diego Paez-Granados
Head of the SCAI Lab at ETH Zürich
Dr. Paez is the Head of the SCAI Lab at ETH Zürich and Swiss Paraplegic Research (SPF) in Switzerland. With a focus on personalized healthcare, his lab utilizes advanced machine learning techniques and wearable sensing to develop assistive decision-making systems that model disease onset and develop digital biomarkers.
Passionate about enhancing healthcare, Dr. Paez is dedicated to creating patient digital twins and leveraging them to develop preventive technologies that support healthcare workers and caregivers. His diverse research interests span human modeling in assistive robotics, human-robot interaction control, explainable models for machine learning in healthcare applications, and biosignal processing.
Edyta Augustynowicz
Professor of Digital Wood Fabrication and a co-lead of the group Digital Fabrication at the Department of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering at Bern University of Applied Sciences
Edyta Augustynowicz is a Professor of Digital Wood Fabrication and a co-lead of the group Digital Fabrication at the Department of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering at Bern University of Applied Sciences. She`s an architect and digital designer with diverse experience in the Swiss construction industry, architecture and academia. After receiving her MAS CAAD from ETH Zurich in 2010, she worked at DT at Herzog and de Meuron, ETH Zurich, ERNE AG Holzbau and FHNW. Her interests focus on digital design and robotic wood fabrication processes, as well as redefining the role of the architect in digitized construction.
Eliott Suonigo
Co-founder at LAYERED GmbH
Eliott Sounigo is the co-founder of LAYERED GmbH, a startup that aims to transform the construction industry through robotics and digital fabrication. As a researcher at ETH Zurich’s Gramazio Kohler Research, he is deeply engaged in exploring how cutting-edge technology can reshape traditional construction methods. Eliott brings a unique perspective, merging his architectural expertise with hands-on experience from digital fabrication-focused practices. His passion for observing and rethinking conventional building processes drives his vision for the future of construction.
At LAYERED, Eliott leads the development of an autonomous construction robot designed to perform precise on-site surface finishing tasks, enhancing the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of construction workflows. Currently, in its pre-piloting phase, the project has demonstrated rapid progress and tangible results, capturing the interest of major construction partners. Eliott and his team at LAYERED are setting the foundation for a new era in construction where intelligent automation and craftsmanship intersect, aiming to reduce material waste, improve safety standards, and make building processes more adaptable to sustainable materials.
Join Eliott at Swiss Robotics Day to explore how robotics can empower the construction industry and create more resilient and future-ready infrastructure.
Emile Dupont
Team Leader and Technology Transfer Team at Innosuisse
After receiving his doctorate from EPFL in 2010 in microelectronics engineering, Emile Dupont worked for a few years for a Geneva-based SME active in the semiconductor market. Since 2013, first at Euresearch and then at Innosuisse, Emile has been advising Swiss SMEs and startups on public support for innovation, at European or national level. Responsible for Innosuisse’s technology and skills transfer activities since 2018, he develops and manages with his team the Innovation Booster, Networking Event Series and Innovation Mentoring programmes.
François Vedovati
Senior Robotics Engineer at ClearSpace
Francois Vedovati is an accomplished expert in the space industry, with extensive experience in the development of high-precision mechatronic systems for planetary observation, including Earth, Mercury, and Mars missions. With a multidisciplinary background, Francois is now applying his technical expertise to address one of the most pressing challenges in space exploration: in-orbit debris removal at ClearSpace. His leadership, innovative approach and deep understanding of space technologies are driving advancements in sustainable space operations. Francois achieved his degree from ISAE (Institut Superieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace) and worked at Beyond Gravity Switzerland before joining ClearSpace.
Georg Rauter
Head of Bio-Inspired RObots for MEDicine-Lab (BIROMED-Lab)
Georg Rauter studied Mechatronics in Mechanical Engineering at TU Graz, Austria and Mathematical and Mechanical Modelling at the Engineering School MATMECA at Université de Bordeaux 1, France. He obtained his PhD in human-robot interaction in 2014 from ETH Zurich and continued postdoc positions at ETH Zurich, University of Southern California, and University of Zurich in the fields of rehabilitation robotics and statistical simulation. In 2016, he founded the Bio-Inspired RObots for MEDicine Laboratory (BIROMED-Lab) as an Assistant Professor for Medical Robotics and Mechatronics at the Department of Biomedical Engineering (DBE) of University of Basel. Since 2022, he holds a permanent position as the chair for surgical robotics. His research focuses on development of medical robots from idea to functional prototypes with the support of interdisciplinary research and industry teams.
Photo from Stefan Schneller, ETH Zurich
Jocelyne Bloch and Prof. Gregoire Courtine
Founders of the NeuroRestore Research Center
Jocelyne Bloch is neurosurgeon at the University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV) where she leads the functional neurosurgery unit, while G. Courtine is a neuroscientist with a background in physics. Jocelyne and G. are Professor within the NeuroX institute of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), within the neurosurgical department of CHUV, and at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lausanne (UNIL). Together, they founded the center NeuroRestore, which develop bioengineering strategies involving neurosurgical interventions to restore neurological functions. In 2014, they. also co-founded ONWARD Medical (Euronext: ONWD) with the aim to translate the therapies developed at .NeuroRestore into clinical treatments. Jocelyne and G. are known worldwide for the conception of neuroprosthetic implants that restored walking in people with paralysis.
Heide Elke Viehweger
Clinical Professor of Neuroorthopedics, Deputy Chief Physician of Orthopedics , Head of Neuroorthopedics, Head of Gait Laboratory
Heide Elke Viehweger is a senior orthopedic surgeon and holds the professorship in Neuroorthopaedics at the University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB) and Basel university, with expertise in the care for children with cerebral palsy. She has a long and distinguished career in clinical and research activities, having worked in Paris and Marseille, France before joining UKBB in 2020.
She is head of the department of neuro-orthopedics and the center of motion analysis and deputy chief physician of orthopaedics at UKBB. Her research activity as research group lead at the Department of Biomedical Engineering (DBE), mainly focuses on the biomechanical aspects of neurological and gait deviations, altered muscle and tendon properties and lever arm dysfunction.
She is interested in the multidisciplinary care and the implementation of evidence-based guidelines for children with neurologic and neuromuscular diseases. Furthermore, Prof. Viehweger is interested in the clinical application of robotics in rehabilitation and surgery, and she supports innovation and digital transformation in outcome evaluation and care, including patient-reported outcome measurement.
She has published many papers on topics such cerebral palsy, foot deformities, motion analysis and quality of life. Besides that, she is a member of the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society and the European Society of Motion Analysis in Adults and Children (ESMAC), local organizer of ESMAC 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, and is the actual president of the French speaking society of Motion Analysis in Children and Adults (SOFAMEA). Due to her international status in both the clinical field and clinical research, Prof. Dr. Heide Elke Viehweger is a respected and visionary leader in her field.
Jamie Paik
Director of the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL) of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)
Prof. Jamie Paik is founder and director of the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL) of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and a core member of Swiss NCCR robotics group. The RRL leverages expertise in multi-material fabrication and smart material actuation for novel robot designs. She received her PhD in Seoul National University on designing humanoid arm and a hand while being sponsored by Samsung Electronics. This 7-DoF humanoid arm was the lightest in the literature at that time being 3.7kg including the 8-DoF hand. During her Postdoctoral positions in the Institut des Systems Intelligents et de Robotic in Universitat Pierre Marie Curie, Paris VI, she developed laparoscopic tools named JAiMY that are internationally patented and commercialized now by Endocontrol-medical.com. At Harvard University’s Microrobotics Laboratory, she started developing unconventional robots that push the physical limits of material and mechanisms. Her latest research effort is in soft robotics including self-morphing Robogami (robotic origami) that transforms its planar shape to 2D or 3D by folding in predefined patterns and sequences, just like the paper art, origami.
Jean Marc Collet
Global Head Medical Robotics & Managing Director at Stäubli
With 3 decades experience in industrial robotics and automation, Jean-Marc is Global Head of Medical Robotics & Managing Director, Switzerland, at Stäubli. His passion for the Man-Machine relationship and his ongoing commitment to the development of robotics ecosystems have enabled him to build up a global expertise. His constant aim is to create values and build inspiring partnerships to offer even greater performance to users of Stäubli robots.
Jelena Godjevac
CEO at the Swiss Foundation for Innovation and Training Surgery
Jelena is the CEO of the Swiss Foundation for Innovation and Training in Surgery (SFITS), funded by Geneva University Hospitals, which is a high tech educational and research Center dedicated to all professionals in the interventional medical disciplines. It is the first platform of its type and size in Switzerland. SFITS also operates as an online platform in these domains.
Her initial task was to set-up the Center from scratch. Currently, she is responsible for all aspects of the Center’s strategic and operational activity. After just 7 years, the Center has established active collaboration with more than 200 faculty members, mostly surgeons and engineers acting in a volunteer capacity, and is recognized as a major change management achievement in a complex medical environment such as the Geneva University Hospitals.
The Center facilitates more than 700 training and research sessions every year, hosts 7 research projects funded by the EU, the Swiss National Science Foundation and private Swiss donors. It also created and has an ongoing training platform providing more than 50 interactive modules dealing in all levels and disciplines of interventional medicine.
Jonas Wüst
CEO and Co-founder of Tethys Robotics
Since co-founding Tethys Robotics in 2018, Jonas Wüst has played a pivotal role in its growth, transforming the team from a research-based initiative into a fully-fledged ETH spin-off. He holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a CAS from ETH in Entrepreneurial Leadership for Technological Ventures. With the support of his team, he has successfully secured over CHF 1 million in equity-free funding through grants, research contracts, and convertible loan agreements. He also led the proposal for the ongoing financial support from the Wyss Zurich Translational Center. Additionally, he has won initial customer contracts and proof-of-concept projects that continue to bolster our go-to-market efforts today.
Josef Grab
Chief Physician of Insurance Medicine at SUVA
Josef Grab studied medicine at the University of Fribourg and Bern, where he also completed his doctorate. He pursued his residency to become a surgeon in various hospitals in Central Switzerland. After completing his residency, he began working at Suva as a specialist in the field of insurance medicine. A few years later, he was promoted to senior physician. Since 2020, he has been the CMO of Insurance Medicine at Suva. During his time at Suva, he completed a Master’s degree in advanced studies in insurance medicine and an Executive MBA HSG in Insurance and Financial Services.
Lukas Engelberger
Head of the Department of Health at Canton Basel and Director of Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Public Health.
Dr. iur. Lukas Engelberger has extensive legal and political experience. From 2005 to 2014, he was a corporate legal counsel at F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG in Basel. Before that, he worked as an attorney at Bär & Karrer in Zurich (2003–2005). He holds a Dr. iur. from Bern University (2003) and an LL.M. from University College London (2003). He was admitted to the bar in Basel-Stadt in 2001 after completing internships in a law firm and cantonal administration.
In politics, Engelberger has been a board member of the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Ministers of Public Health (GDK) since 2014 and became its President in 2020. He also serves on the decision-making body for the Intercantonal Agreement on Highly Specialised Medicine (IVHSM) and has been a board member of Swissmedic (since 2017) and Cantosana AG (since 2019). Additionally, he joined the board of the foundation for the Institute for European Global Studies in 2020.
Previously, Engelberger served as President of the Conference of the Cantonal Ministers of Public Health for Northwestern Switzerland (2016–2017), President of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (CVP) Basel-Stadt (2013–2014), and was a member of the Great Council (2004–2014).
Manuela Eugster
Group Head of ARTORG Centre at University of Bern
Manuela Eugster obtained an MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Robotics, Systems, and Control at ETH Zurich in 2016, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Bio-Inspired Robots for Medicine Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, in 2021. She is currently assistant professor at the ARTORG Centre, University of Bern, and at the Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Bern. She heads the Neuro Robotics Group, focusing on developing innovative instruments and technologies for neurosurgery based on robotics and micromechatronics.
Marco Hutter
Director of Robotic Systems Lab, ETH Zurich
Marco is a professor for robotic systems and director of the center for robotics at ETH Zurich. His research interests are in the development of novel machines and machines and their intelligence to operate in rough and challenging environments. He is part of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics and NCCR Digital Fabrication and PI in various international projects (e.g. EU NI, DigiForest) and challenges. Moreover, Marco is co-founder of several ETH Startups such as ANYbotics AG or Gravis Robotics AG, targeting the commercialization of legged robots and autonomous construction equipment.
Mario Mauerer
Global Business Development Manager Robotics at maxon
Mario Mauerer is the Global Business Development Manager for Robotics at maxon, a leading provider of advanced motion systems. In this role, he is responsible for shaping go-to-market strategies for maxon’s robotics components, systems, and services, while also playing a key role in defining product and portfolio roadmaps.
Mario earned his PhD in Power Electronics from ETH Zurich in 2018. Following this, he joined Anybotics, where he contributed to the development of advanced actuators and later advanced to team leadership and C-level responsibilities as CTO Hardware.
In 2024, Mario transitioned to maxon, where he is focused on driving the adoption of modern robotics through cutting-edge actuator technologies.
Maryam Kamgarpour
Assistant professor, EPFL, Mechanical Engineering
Maryam Kamgarpour is a professor in the School of Engineering of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Prior to EPFL, she served as a faculty at the University of British Columbia and at ETH Zürich. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Applied Science from University of Waterloo, Canada. Her research is on stochastic control and multiagent learning and control. Her theoretical research is motivated by control problems arising in intelligent transportation systems, robotics, and power grid systems. She was awarded the European Control Award (2024), European Union Starting Grant (2016-2021), the IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems Outstanding Paper Award (2022) andNASA High Potential Individual Award (2010).
Mireille Deckers-Strobel
Head of Global Sales, Faulhaber Drives Systems
Mireille Deckers-Strobel obtained a Master in Business Engineering from HEC Management School of Liège University in Belgium.
After the graduation in 2002, she started her professional career in Belgium before accepting challenges in France, Switzerland and finally Germany. In 2007 she started at FAULHABER as Inside Sales Engineering for international customers. During the past 17 years she contributed to the international expansion of the company and cooperated in numerous projects in Robotics as well as Medical Devices and Laboratory Automation. Mireille has an extensive expertise in intercultural and technical business environment.
Since October 2023 she is heading the Global Sales Department of FAULHABER with a strong focus on EMEA and Asia.
“Together with our customers we work on precision motion solutions that enable them to improve their next generation of devices of create completely new innovative solutions that will contribute to a better tomorrow.” explains Mireille.
FAULHABER is a global leading supplier of small, highly efficient and high precision drive systems and was founded in 1947 by Dr Fritz Faulhaber, inventor of the self-supporting skew-wound coil. FAULHABER solutions are implemented in Robotics, Aerospace and Aviation, Medical Device, and much more.
Nathan Müller
CEO and Co-founder of ELYTHOR
Nathan Müller, awarded best of his robotics MSc class, specializes in control engineering, embedded systems, and software engineering. With four years of experience, he has honed a multidisciplinary skill set, notably developing a complete robotic arm for precision tasks, an automated bench for characterizing line-scan cameras, and a dynamic simulation for VTOL drones. In addition, he has cultivated management abilities as the logistics team leader during his mandatory military service in the Swiss Army. Currently, Nathan is the CTO at Elythor, where he leads technological innovation in advanced robotics and aerial systems, while managing a high-performing technical team to drive the company’s strategic development.
Nicola Tomatis
CEO at BlueBotics SA and president of Swiss Robotics Association
Patrick Helmer
Patrick Helmer is a co-founder of Force Dimension and serves as the company’s director of Intellectual Property. As an expert in kinematics and mechanical design, he has managed numerous research and development projects in the medical and industrial field
Robert Riener
Professor at Sensory-Motor Systems at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Robert Riener is full professor for Sensory-Motor Systems at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, and full professor of medicine at the University Hospital Balgrist, University of Zurich. He studied Mechanical Engineering at TU München, Germany, and University of Maryland, USA. He received a Dr.-Ing. degree in Engineering from the TU München in 1997. After postdoctoral work from 1998-1999 at the Centro di Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, he returned to TU München, where he completed his Habilitation in the field of Biomechatronics in 2003. In 2003 he became assistant professor at ETH Zurich and University of Zurich (“double-professorship”); since 2010 he has been full professor for Sensory-Motor Systems at ETH Zurich, and since 2016 also full professor at the medical faculty of the University of Zurich. His work focuses on the development of user-cooperative rehabilitation robots, exoskeletons, and virtual reality technologies. Riener is the initiator and organizer of the CYBATHLON, which was awarded with the European Excellence Award, the Yahoo Sports Technology Award and with two categories of the REIMAGINE Education Award. Since 2022 he is president of the ICORR, the International Consortium of Rehabilitation Robotics, which he co-founded in 2019. In 2018 Riener obtained the honorary doctoral degree from the University of Basel. Since 2023 he is member of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences (SATW). Riener is a AAAS Leshner Leadership Fellow and a Thomas Mann Fellow.
Ronja Müller-Bruhn
Founder and CEO STIMIT AG
Ronja Müller-Bruhn is the CEO and founder of STIMIT AG, a pioneering MedTech start-up that aims to revolutionize intensive care through non-invasive technologies. STIMITs first non-invasive therapy uses diaphragm neurostimulation to induce breathing, in patients on ventilators who do not breathe on their own: in order to rapidly wean patients from mechanical ventilation. Patients on prolonged ventilation cost >16 billion in USA, >100 billion worldwide. STIMIT is approaching its first market approval as we speak, we currently focus on North American commercial launch.
In the long run, STIMIT is going to revolutionize critical care and ventilation worldwide: STIMIT’s neuroventilation technology has shown clinically to create tidal volumes, thus ventilate – using a disruptive approach for ultra-lung-protection: Diaphragm induced neuroventilation improves lung mechanics with expected benefits for the lung, the brain, and the heart. Neuroventilation builds on two mega trends: empowering & mobilizing patients, and neurostimulation, and is disrupting critical care & ventilation: towards empowering patients to breathe on their own.
Before founding STIMIT, Ronja worked at Zimmer Biomet, where she launched the iASSIST gyroscope-based movement tracker system in EMEA markets. With 15 patents to her name, Ronja is a driven and visionary medical engineer committed to advancing healthcare. She holds a degree in medical technology, an MBA from Vienna, and has held international roles in large medical device companies. She has also played a key role in fostering entrepreneurship programs at the University of Basel. Ronja’s groundbreaking work has already led to more than 20 awards & innovation grants, revolutionary clinical data published in peer reviewed journals, signaling a significant leap forward in medical science.
Tobias Luksch
Manager R&D Robotics at ITK Engineering GmbH
Dr. Tobias Luksch is a robotics specialist at the Healthcare business unit of ITK Engineering. In this role, he coordinates pre-development work in the field of robotics and has been working as a project manager and developer in robotics customer projects for 11 years. Dr. Luksch studied computer science with a focus on robotics, adaptive systems, machine learning and control engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (formerly University of Karlsruhe). He then earned his doctorate in the Robotics Systems Group at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, focusing on biologically inspired motion generation for humanoid robots, behavior-based control architectures and mobile robotics.
Stefan Weirich
CEO and Co-founder of mimic
Formerly in R&D at Siemens Healthineers and as a researcher at the ETH Soft Robotics Lab, his work in robotics and 3D printing has led to several patents and publications.
In 2024, after 3 years of research and pre-development, Stefan co-founded mimic robotics, a VC-backed robotics & AI start-up based in Zurich.
Tom Kissling
Gobal pRED Lab Automation Partner at Roche Innovation Center Basel
Tom Kissling is a skilled professional known in the life science industry for his expertise in Lab Automation & Robotics. With a career spanning over 28 years @ F. Hoffmann – La Roche Ltd, Tom has established himself as a leader in the field of R&D Automation and Operations. He is recognized for his creative and innovative approaches resulting in numerous technology patents and commitment to excellence making an impact by consistently delivering outstanding results. Throughout his career, Tom has been involved in numerous successful projects and initiatives, demonstrating his ability to adapt and thrive in a fast-changing environment. He is a founding member of the SiLA standardization consortium and still active as a director of the board. In addition to his professional achievements, he is also passionate about the cultural heritage of Basel namely the Basler Fasnacht and supports a charity organization with its own aid projects in Nepal.
Yann Stragiotti
Director of Stäubli’s Swiss Robotics Division
After graduating as a microtechnology engineer followed by a CAS in Business Management, Yann Stragiotti quickly turned his attention to automation and engineering. Today, as Director of Stäubli’s Swiss Robotics Division, Yann Stragiotti has 20 years’ experience in the robotization of manufacturing processes.