Hardware Podcasts

Episode 138: Robots in the environment - Stefano Mintchev

Robot Talk · 19 Dec 2025 · 29m · Episode 138

What this episode covers

Stefano Mintchev, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Robotics at ETH Zürich, discusses his lab's work on bio-inspired robots designed to explore and monitor complex natural environments like rainforests. He details the development of drones capable of pushing through dense vegetation using tactile sensing and protective cages, as well as the use of modular payloads for collecting environmental DNA to track biodiversity. Mintchev also explains the shift from semi-autonomous to fully autonomous control to overcome communication limits in humid, cluttered forests, and introduces research into soft, squeezable drones made from composite laminates.

Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
ETH Zürich, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, EPFL
Also
Xprize Rainforest, Sphere

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