ETH Zurich ("Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich"), founded in 1855, is a world-class teaching and research institution. With its broad spectrum of study programs and research areas, ETH Zurich is known for its excellence in educating professionals and developing innovative solutions for the challenges of the 21st century.
The research of the Environmental Robotics Lab (ERL) at ETH Zurich focuses on the opportunities and challenges that robotics brings with regard to climate change, environmental degradation and sustainability. To this end, they draw inspiration from nature and investigate new design, manufacturing and control paradigms. In this way, they create versatile and robust machines that can explore complex and difficult-to-see natural environments. ERL's various robots aim to collect data with high spatial and temporal resolution for environmental studies, minimize the ecological footprint or mitigate the effects of climate disasters.
In our Peruvian protected areas, we have been researching the use of drone technology to take environmental DNA samples from the treetops of tropical primary forests in a globally unique pilot project since 2024. The expected results could represent a milestone for biodiversity research, as this new method will help to collect meaningful data much more efficiently in the future. This not only helps our work in wildlife and species conservation, but also forms an important basis for all future conservation projects.
