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EPFL Flying Robot Demonstrated at Techfest Festival

Feb 14 2013

The AirBurr robot was demonstrated at the Techfest festival at IIT Mumbai in India and inspired thousands of curious visitors.

A flying robot made in EPFL was showcased during an exhibition of the Techfest at the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai on January 3-5, 2013. Techfest is a student-ran festival organized annually for a technology curious and diverse public attracting over 90’000 visitors.
EPFL PhD student Adrien Briod along with his colleague Przemyslaw Kornatowski from the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems spent three intensive days explaining and demonstrating their project to a constant flow of visitors. More than 40’000 people entered the exhibition tent in which the EPFL robot was shown next to 30 other technology exhibitions from all over the world.

The latest prototype was demonstrated, featuring a very robust design, legs for self-recovery and autonomous flight based on touch:

Inspired by the way insects deal with obstacles and collisions, AirBurr is a multi-sensor, light-weight robot capable of flying in a clustered environment. Its robust outside structure absorbs shocks in case of collisions and even if thrown to the ground, it uprights itself and continues its flight autonomously. The robot caught the imagination of the general public and even of Indian industrials, and was cited by Indian newspapers as one of the highlights of the exhibition.

The participation of EPFL at the Techfest was made possible thanks to the financial support of swissnex India and the EPFL International Relations.

EPFL's exhibition was noticed by the local online press: