Marco Hutter - "The New Era of Mobility: Humanoids and Quadrupeds Enter the Real World"

Speaker Biography Marco is a professor for robotic systems and director of the Center for Robotics at ETH Zurich. Since 2024, he leads the Zurich office of the RAI Institute. His research interests are in the development of novel machines and machines and their intelligence to operate in rough and challenging environments. Together with his team, he realized a number of legged robots, mobile manipulators, and autonomous excavators that find applications including industrial inspection, construction and forest operations, household assistance, and extraterrestrial exploration. Marco is a co-founder of several ETH Startups that commercialize technology ranging from legged robots and autonomous construction equipment. Abstract Legged robotics has made remarkable strides in recent years, with quadrupeds and humanoids beginning to demonstrate real value in practical applications. Beyond the rapid advances in hardware, breakthroughs in perception, navigation, planning, and reinforcement learning for locomotion have unlocked unprecedented levels of mobility and autonomy on challenging terrain. In this talk, I will explore how reinforcement learning and autonomy are transforming the capabilities of legged robots and other mobile machines. I will share insights into the underlying methodologies, highlight real-world deployments "in the wild," and discuss where we stand today in the long-envisioned journey toward a ubiquitous robotic workforce.