Precious Philip-Ifabiyi (Promotion 2023-2025) had a remarkable summer participating in the Robotics Summer School and the Robotics Student Fellowship at ETH Zürich. From winning the Robot Challenge to contributing to cutting-edge research in navigation algorithms, Precious shares his inspiring journey and acknowledges the people who supported his success. Want to hear more about her journey? Read her full testimonial below.
“This summer, I had the privilege of participating in the Robotics Summer School and the Robotics Student Fellowship at ETH Zürich.
One of the highlights of the summer school was collaborating with my talented teammates—Maria, Oliver, Erya, Stefano, and André—to win the Robot Challenge. This challenge involved deploying a robot for autonomous exploration and artefact detection. It was an exciting and rewarding experience to work alongside such skilled individuals.
During the Robotics Student Fellowship at ETH, I worked within the renowned Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) under the guidance of Dr. Lionel Ott and Dr. Michael Pantic. My project involved benchmarking the latest navigation algorithms developed at the lab using the BARN dataset. Specifically, I evaluated a reactive LiDAR navigation algorithm based on Riemannian Motion Policies that Michael Pantic and others developed. Additionally, I contributed to the ESA SUPPORTER project by developing the robot’s body odometry estimation module, enhancing its motion-tracking capabilities.
This experience not only expanded my knowledge and expertise in robotics but also allowed me to meet many inspiring individuals and researchers who share my passion and are pushing the frontiers of the field. I am immensely grateful to the organisers of the ETH RobotX initiative for these programs and my supervisors for their invaluable guidance throughout the fellowship. Moreover, I extend my sincere gratitude to my referees, Prof. Dr. Hasan Demirel and Dr. Nuno Gracias, for their unwavering support.
Above all, I give thanks to God Almighty for His constant grace and blessings, without which none of this would have been possible.”