Dr. Raphael Zufferey

I am a Marie Curie research fellow and part of the LIS/BIOROB labs at EPFL
PhD from Imperial College London in 2019, I am happily exploring the vast ocean that is robotics.
Avid windsurfer and photography enthousiast.

Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow

Currently working at the LIS and BIOROB at EPFL, Lausanne

EU MSCA Horizon 2020 Research Fellowship.
Research: aerial-aquatic vehicles with flapping-wing technology.

Postdoc researcher

Postdoctoral research at the University of Seville. Development of flapping-wing autonomous robots capable of performing manipulation, perching and carry meaningful payload. Bird bioinspiration is a key driver in improving the performance and abilities of such challenging systems.

PhD

Winner of the Best PhD in Robotics UK (2019)

Practical and theoretical investigations into miniature aerial-aquatic robots capable of movement in both air and water. Extensive experimental work which resulted in several prototypes with unique locomotion strategies. Successfully defended 27 sept 2019.

MSc research

Development of a micro legged robot of 2.5 grams, the Harvard Ambulatory Micro Robot (HAMR), involving key advances in piezoelectric actuators, micro PCB fabrication, wireless implementation. Supervision by Prof. R.J. Wood

BA / MSc

Micro-engineering bachelor and master, emphasis on electrical, mechanical, micro-systems, material science and embedded product/robots design.

  • Specialization in robotics and autonomous systems
  • Minor in Space Design and Technology

Research

Highlights of my research by project. List of publication on ORCID and Google Scholar.

Aerial-Aquatic flapping-wing robots

capable of both flight and underwater locomotion, with a particular focus on transitions & bio-inspiration.

Perching with Flapping Wings

Large-scale flapping-wing robots with physical contact capabilities. Perching on a branch has been achieved!

SailMAV

Sailing-Flying locomotion method for long-duration aerial-aquatic missions thanks to wind energy harvesting.

Aquatic Jump-glider

A novel water-reactive fuel thruster for impulsive take-off, allowing multiple jump-gliding from the water surface.

Aerial-Aquatic Locomotion

This field was pioneered by Dr. Siddall and since then several protoype have demonstrated effective water take-off.

MEDUSA

A Multi-Environment Dual-Robot for Underwater Sample Acquisition. The underwater pod can move, film and sample.

Robobee

Aquatic escape of a 160 milligram robotic bee using flapping flight, hydrogen combustion and electrolysis.

HAMR

Quadrupedal legged Harvard Ambulatory Micro Robot (HAMR) with custom electronics and wireless control.

Indigo Beam

Autonomous robot capable of navigation in unknown environment to pick up bottles.

Photography

Selection of photos shot on Nikon Z6 and Panasonic G85.

2023

Champéry, Switzerland

2022

Champéry, Switzerland

2021

Champéry, Switzerland

2020

Cambridge, UK

2019

Iceland

2018

Magnetic Island, Australia.

2017

Tenerife, Spain

  • Address

    EPFL, MED 1 1612, Station 9, 1015 Lausanne
    Switzerland