ETH Robotics Club on tour!
We had the chance to visit @nvidia , @teslaoptimus , @openai , @waymo , and Physical Intelligence during our first trip to the USA.
It was a great opportunity to strengthen our collaboration with world-leading companies defining the future of robotics. This is the best startup ecosystem in the world. Lots to learn here, and we are excited to bring that back with us.
We had the chance to speak with incredible researchers, engineers and founders. It is mind-blowing to see thousands of engineers on a single floor all working toward a common vision for the future. The scale is something else. Very inspiring.
It is impressive to see what an ecosystem that rewards ambition and bold bets can create. We need to see more of that in Zurich.
What's going on behind the scenes here is impressive. We would love to tell you more, but we signed an NDA. You will have to take our word for it. ;)
A special thank you to Konstantinos, Cassie, Martin, Snehal, Laura, Linn and Quan for hosting us this week.
We're already looking forward to our next trip!
We had the privilege of hosting Dr. Konstantinos Laskaris, Director of the Optimus program at @teslaoptimus , for an ETH Robotics Club INSPIRE talk.
Over 400 people filled the @ethzurich Audi Max for a rare, up-close look at Tesla’s Optimus robot, brought all the way from California.
To many of us at the club, this was an incredible opportunity to dive into the technical details and engineering foundations behind building a world-class humanoid robot.
We’re looking forward to continuing our collaboration with @teslaoptimus , including a club visit to their new offices in Palo Alto.
A special thanks to Cassie, Mario, Paul, Leo, Kristóf, Declan, Bianca and many others who made this talk possible.
HACK2026 - OFFICIAL AFTERMOVIE
500 applications. 50 participants.
Europe’s best student robotics talent under one roof at the ETH Hangar.
$10'000 in cash prizes
$300'000 worth of hardware
Europe’s first humanoid robot boxing tournament
The official launch of ESRA - European Student Robotics Association
It’s absolutely incredible what has happened here.
Thank you to everyone who was part of this.
A special thank you to our sponsors @openai , @generalcatalyst , @huggingface_ai , Rerun, @virtuals.io , @zhaw , @hslu_luzern and ETH Hangar for making this possible together with us.
We look forward to next year’s edition of HACK2027. Stay tuned.
Video: @babypro.ming 📹
HACK2026 was unreal.
At ETH Robotics Club, we set out to prove that students can build a world-class robotics ecosystem and this week, we did.
500 applicants. 50 exceptional roboticists. All in Zurich, building, competing, and pushing boundaries.
From cutting-edge hardware to Europe’s first humanoid robot boxing tournament, to bringing the robotics ecosystem together in one place this is what belief + execution looks like.
None of it happens without people.
Volunteers who gave months of work. An incredible events team. Participants who traveled across Europe. Sponsors and partners who backed us early and made this real.
Thank you for believing in our vision.
I believe in Switzerland. I believe in Europe. And I am convinced world-changing companies will come from environments like this.
We keep building.
With love,
Declan
------ Special Thanks to -------
ETHRC: Leo, Kristóf, Darius, Dimetri, Bianca, Zeno, Nathalie and many, many more incredible people, you are the best, I couldn't do it without you!
ADVISORS: Thomas, Laura, Robin, Alex
SPONSORS: Hugging Face, OpenAI, General Catalyst, Rerun, Virtuals Protocol
ECOSYSTEM: ETH Hangar (Cyril), ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Jorge), Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Photography: @babypro.ming 📸
HACK2026 - Europe’s first humanoid robot boxing tournament
Brought to you by ETH Robotics Club x OpenAI x General Catalyst x Hugging Face
Steel on steel. Robot on robot.
Our champions teleoperated robots in a real boxing ring, real steel style. Full contact. Real impact. Machines going head to head under human control.
What a way to finish HACK2026, the greatest robotics hackathon in Europe, bringing together the best student roboticists from across the continent.
Huge thanks to ZHAW (Jorge Peña Queralta) and Virtuals Protocol for providing us with the Unitree G1s for this ultimate showdown.
Absolute madness.
Throughout the semester, the ETH Robotics Club has been hosting weekly educational sessions and workshops covering a wide range of topics, including control systems, ROS2, perception, reinforcement learning, and more.
These sessions have been a great way for members to build practical skills and learn from each other.
Shoutout to Filippos Katsimalis, Elian I., Nicola Loi, Joschua Wüthrich and Mayank M. for sharing their expertise and putting in the time to mentor us!
The Unitree Go2 from nunu.ai has quickly become the unofficial pet of the ETH Robotics Club.
Along the way, there have been plenty of funny crashes, unexpected sprints, and surprisingly impressive tricks like jumps and handstands.
Beyond the fun, the Go2 is a powerful platform that will help our software teams develop and deploy custom control policies for quadruped robots.
Tired of folding laundry?
The Robot Learning team of the ETH Robotics Club has successfully trained and deployed their first autonomous towel folding policy. This the first step in our broader vision to fully automate dexterous manipulation tasks.
Next up, we’ll be operating with ORCA Dexterity hands as end-effectors, bringing us to the next level of dexterity.
Our current setup: 2 YAM Ultra Arms from i2RT Robotics, the Z-mini egocentric stereo camera, real-time VR teleoperation and a Gello-inspired, custom-designed leader arm. We've trained an ACT policy on our setup with around 300 episodes.
Building robots in a hangar near you!
These are the students who will spend countless hours every week turning the vision of autonomous drones, humanoid robots, and automated manufacturing systems into reality.
We talked about why this matters: to unlock global productivity, create a world of abundance and security, care for our aging populations, and open the path to human space exploration.
This is student-led robotics at @ethzurich . Stay tuned
