Publications by Raphael Zufferey

Collision‐Resilient Winged Drones Enabled by Tensegrity Structures

Dario Floreano, Raphael Zufferey, Simon Jeger, William John Stewart, Mohammad Askari, Omar Aloui

Flying robots are becoming increasingly widespread, not only as remote‐vision agents but also as tools capable of physically interacting with our world. As robots fly closer to obstacles, the likelihood of collision rises. While collision resilience soluti ...

Wiley2025

The Natural Robotics Contest: crowdsourced biomimetic design

Raphael Zufferey

Biomimetic and bioinspired design is not only a potent resource for roboticists looking to develop robust engineering systems or understand the natural world. It is also a uniquely accessible entry point into science and technology. Every person on Earth c ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2023

Use of an unmanned aerial-aquatic vehicle for acoustic sensing in freshwater ecosystems

Mirko Kovac, Raphael Zufferey

Freshwater ecosystems are endangered, underfunded and understudied, making new methods such as passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) essential for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of data collection. However, many challenges are still to be addressed ...

Wiley2023

Off-shore and underwater sampling of aquatic environments with the aerial-aquatic drone MEDUSA

Raphael Zufferey

Monitoring of aquatic habitats for water quality and biodiversity requires regular sampling, often in off-shore locations and underwater. Such sampling is commonly performed manually from research vessels, or if autonomous, is constrained to permanent inst ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2022

How ornithopters can perch autonomously on a branch

Raphael Zufferey

Flapping wings produce lift and thrust in bio-inspired aerial robots, leading to quiet, safe and efficient flight. However, to extend their application scope, these robots must perch and land, a feat widely demonstrated by birds. Despite recent progress, f ...

Nature Portfolio2022