Agenda
Keynotes, panels and high-level discussions featuring Swiss leaders from industry, academia, and policy.
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Entrance Hall
Check-in & pick up your badge
Please bring your personal QR code which was sent to you when you registered. You will receive your personal badge. The Check-in desks will open at 08:30 and will remain open all day. There will be an Infodesk at the entrance during the full day.
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Coffee Corner
Welcome Coffee
Kick off the day with us. Join fellow attendees for a Welcome Coffee before the program begins. A great chance to connect, network, and settle in before the first session starts. Flying coffee will be served during the morning session in the main stage area.
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Main Stage
Opening and official welcome to Swiss Robotics Day 2026
- Effy Vayena
Effy Vayena
Prof. Dr. Effy Vayena
Effy Vayena is Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations and Full Professor of Bioethics at ETH Zurich. Internationally recognized for her work on the governance of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, health data, and other emerging technologies, she is also the founder and director of the Health Ethics and Policy Lab, an interdisciplinary research group that brings together expertise from the social sciences, ethics, law, engineering, and the life sciences to address the challenges and opportunities posed by technological innovation. Her research examines how advances in biomedicine, data analytics, and AI can be developed and deployed responsibly to maximize societal benefit while safeguarding fundamental ethical values.
Vayena has held appointments at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, where she was a Fellow and later Faculty Associate, and previously served as Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation and Governance at ETH Zurich. She has co-chaired the World Health Organization's Expert Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence, Health Ethics and Governance and is an elected member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report.
A recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, Vayena has published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and co-edited several books. She regularly advises governments, international organizations, and public and private sector leaders on issues related to digitalization, artificial intelligence, and the responsible governance of emerging technologies.
- Marco Hutter
Marco Hutter
Professor Dr. and Director of Center for Robotics at ETH Zurich
Marco Hutter is a Professor for robotic systems and Director of the Center for Robotics at ETH Zurich. Since 2024, he leads the Zurich office of the RAI Institute. His research interests are in the development of novel machines and their intelligence to operate in rough and challenging environments. Together with his team, he realized a number of legged robots, mobile manipulators, and autonomous excavators that find applications including industrial inspection, construction, household assistance, and extraterrestrial exploration. Marco is a co-founder of several ETH startups, including ANYbotics, RIVR, Flexion, and Gravis Robotics.
- Roland Siegwart
Roland Siegwart
Director of ASL at ETH, Co-Director of Wyss Zurich and Vice-President of the Swiss Robotics Association
Roland Siegwart is professor for autonomous mobile robots at ETH Zurich, founding co-director of the Wyss Zurich and board member of multiple high-tech companies. He was professor at EPFL and Vice President of ETH Zurich. He is among the most cited scientist in robots world-wide, recipient of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Field Award and Pioneer Award, co-founder of more than half a dozen spin-off companies and a strong promoter of innovation and entrepreneurship in Switzerland.
A warm welcome from the Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations, followed by the Director of the Center of Robotic and the Swiss Robotics Association.
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TalkMain Stage
The Science of Robot Learning in Switzerland
- Alessandro Giusti
Alessandro Giusti
Professor of AI for Autonomous Robotics
Alessandro Giusti is a Professor of AI for Autonomous Robotics at the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA), University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), where he leads the autonomous robotics research area. His research focuses on Deep Learning applications, Self-Supervised robot learning, and Human-Robot Interaction. His seminal paper on using deep learning for robot navigation in forests has received the Most Impactful Paper Award by the Swiss NCCR Robotics consortium in 2022. He was also part of the winning team of the 1st Nanocopter AI challenge (Delft, September 2022), and won three grand challenges in biomedical image analysis; six of his works were also awarded best paper, best demo, and best video prizes at HRI, AAAI, ISVC, IEEE VIS, and the IEEE Communication Society.
- Aude Billard
Aude Billard
Head of LASA Lab at EPFL, Academic director of the EPFL Robotics center, Vice-president of the Swiss Robotics Association
Prof. Aude Billard is head of the LASA laboratory at the School of Engineering at the Swiss Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), academic director of the EPFL Robotics Center, Vice-president of the Swiss Robotics Association.
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.
- Sylvain Calinon
Sylvain Calinon
Dr. Sylvain Calinon is a Senior Research Scientist at the Idiap Research Institute and a Lecturer at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He heads the Robot Learning & Interaction group at Idiap, bringing expertise in human-robot collaboration, robot learning from demonstration, geometric representations, and optimal control. His group champions a frugal learning approach to robot manipulation skill acquisition, defining "frugality" through two key objectives: 1) acquiring manipulation skills from only a few human demonstrations or exploration trials, and 2) learning only the components of the skill that genuinely need to be learned. The approaches developed by his group apply to a wide range of domains involving manipulation skills, from robots that operate close to us (assistive and industrial robots) or act as extensions of us (prosthetics and exoskeletons), to those controlled from a distance (shared control and teleoperation).
This session explores how Swiss research groups are advancing robot learning. From reinforcement learning and simulation-to-reality transfer to data-driven control for legged and manipulation systems. Leading scientists from Swiss institutions will share how these methods are pushing robots toward greater autonomy, robustness, and adaptability in real-world environments, offering a look at the research shaping the next generation of intelligent machines.
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PanelMain Stage
Humanoids in the Workplace: Ready or Not?
Moritz Bächer, Director of Disney Research will lead the panel discussion.
Welcome Disney, Hexagon, Flexion, RAI, Agile, Unitree and many more for an exiting exchange. The investment world is betting billions that humanoid robots will soon work alongside us. This session cuts through the hype: what can they really do today, and how close are we to sharing the workplace with a robot colleague?
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TalkMain Stage
How Robot Learning Is Reshaping Industry
Industry speakers share first-hand experience deploying robot learning on real factory floors. The breakthroughs, the surprises, and the lessons learned bringing it from research to reality.
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KeynoteMain Stage
Keynote of Thomas Zurbuchen
- Thomas Zurbuchen
Thomas Zurbuchen
Professor and Director of ETH Zurich Space
Thomas is currently working as professor and Head of ETH Zurich | Space, founding director of ETH’s GeoLab, and as a sought-after speaker, consultant and board member for Schindler group, Firefly, and McKinley. He was the longest continually running Head of Science at NASA from 2016 to 2022 responsible for 130 missions with 37 launches including JWST, Parker and Perseverance. Previously, he was a Professor for Space Science and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. Also, founder of one of the largest University-based Entrepreneurship programs worldwide - the Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship.
He holds an MS and PhD in physics/astrophysics from the University of Bern and received many awards and recognitions, including four honorary doctorates, and membership of the International Academy of Astronautics.
From NASA's Science Mission Directorate to ETH Zurich Space, Thomas Zurbuchen shares what it takes to lead breakthrough innovation at the edge of the unknown.
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Marco Tempest
- Marco Tempest
Marco Tempest
Partner, Creative Technology and Innovation at ETH Zurich | Space
Marco Tempest is a cyber-illusionist and Partner for Creative Technology and Innovation at ETH Zurich | Space. As a Director's Fellow at the MIT Media Lab and Creative Technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he spent years using the tools of magic: stagecraft, psychology, and narrative design, to make unimagined futures feel real. The results have funded multi-year research programs, aligned engineering teams across decades, and changed how some of the world’s most advanced organizations think about what’s possible.
To close the morning, we hand the stage to someone who blurs the line between technology and wonder. Marco Tempest, the world-renowned cyber illusionist, brings magic and robotics together in performances that leave audiences questioning what's real. Expect the unexpected: a fitting, unforgettable finale to a morning spent exploring the future of robotics.
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Closing Morning Session
Dr. Cesar Cadena, A closer look at how robots perceive and make sense of the world, bridging today's talks with the challenges still ahead. Inviting to an exiting afternoon program.
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Exhibition Floors
Exhibition & Demos
Meet the researchers, industry partners and many more. Over 80 booths on two floors. Find all details of each exhibitor on the exhibitor page.
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The Archade of Stage One
Lunch
Follow the signs and enjoy a light lunch buffet.
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PitchMain Stage
Swissmem / Robotics & Factory Automation in Practice
Real Stories from the Shop Floor — Three Swissmem member companies share hands-on experience putting robotics to work — the challenges, the solutions, and the results.
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Start-up Pitch
A pitch of three selected start-up presentations.
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Main Stage
Swiss Start-ups: What Separates Success from Failure?
Switzerland punches well above its weight in deep tech and robotics start-ups. For every breakout success, many more quietly fail. In this session, founders and industry experts share first-hand lessons from the trenches: what actually made the difference, the mistakes that nearly sank them, and the best practices every early-stage start-up should know. No polished pitch decks, just honest insights into what it really takes to build a lasting company in Switzerland's robotics ecosystem.
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Meet the VCs! Meet the Founders!
Use this great opportunity to have a one to one discussion. Two rooms on the first floor, will give the opportunity to meet different VCs and Founders.
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2nd Floor / NVIDIA Room
NVIDIA Robotics Workshop
Learn the latest features of the NVIDIA research.
Bring your own device and learn about the newest features.
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TalkMain Stage
Swiss Robotics Association – Connecting the Swiss robotics ecosystem
An overview of the Swiss Robotics Association, its activities and initiatives, and its role in bringing together academia, industry and other stakeholders to strengthen collaboration and foster the development of the Swiss robotics ecosystem.
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TalkMain Stage
Innovation Booster Robotics – Funded robotics projects in 2025
Discover three promising robotics projects supported by the Innovation Booster Robotics in 2025. The project teams will present their ideas, share their progress and highlight how their innovations are contributing to the development of new robotic technologies and applications.
- Anca Rusu, Executive Director of the Swiss Robotics Association and Community Manager at EPFL Robotics
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SocialMain Stage
SRD Networking
The main stage area will become the networking zone after our last speaker. Use the time to connect with partners, stakeholders, old and new robotic friends. Enjoy some refreshments while networking. Don't miss the surprises, which might appear while you are enjoying the end of a successful day.