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.

Since 2024, we have been conducting research in our Peruvian protected areas as part of a globally unique pilot project exploring the use of drone technology to collect environmental DNA samples from the tree canopies of tropical primary forests. The expected results could represent a milestone for biodiversity research, as this new method has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency of collecting meaningful data. This not only supports our work in wilderness and species conservation but also lays an important foundation for all future conservation projects.