Since it’s the failure cases that reveal what the real challenges to autonomy are, it’s important to find a task (like coffee retrieval) that you can use to test the robot out in the real world …
Robots clean rivers and sort waste, monitor ecosystems, and inspect renewable-energy infrastructure. But even the greenest robot has an environmental footprint.
EPFL engineers have designed acoustic cavities that convert sound waves into thrust, propelling small robots and ultralight aerial vehicles without on-board actuators or electronics.