Mirko Kovac

Expertise Aerial RoboticsEnvironmental SensingSustainability RoboticsPhysical Artificial Intelligence Short Biography Prof. Mirko Kovač is Director of the Laboratory of Sustainability Robotics, jointly appointed at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) in Zürich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). He holds an Honorary Professorship at Imperial College London, where he previously served as Full Professor and founded the Aerial Robotics Laboratory.His research group develops mobile robotic systems for distributed environmental sensing and autonomous manufacturing in complex natural environments, with particular expertise in bioinspired robot design, multifunctional hardware development, and multimodal locomotion. His work spans the full arc from fundamental design principles to field-deployed systems and deep-tech startups, with active collaborations across environmental science, materials research, and autonomous systems.Having received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zürich (2005), Prof. Kovač completed his doctoral training at EPFL and postdoctoral research at Harvard University. His research has been published in more than 120 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals and venues, including Nature, Science, Science Robotics, Nature Portfolio journals, and IEEE flagship conferences, and has been recognised with multiple best paper awards. He has delivered over 150 keynote and invited lectures worldwide and serves on the editorial boards of npj Robotics (Nature Portfolio), Advanced Intelligent Systems, Advanced Robotics Research, and Frontiers in Robotics and AI. He advises governments, investment funds, and industry on the strategic development of robotics and autonomous systems. Teaching & PhD PhD Students Ryo Kanno, Jung Hwan Ro, Yusuf Furkan Kaya Courses Sustainability robotics ENV-530 The goal of this course is to provide methods and tools of robotics in promoting sustainable development. The course is a balance between theoretical basics in robotics, associated case studies and project based learning. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Robotics Sustainability Leadership euRobotics aisbl 2025 Wiley - Top Viewed Article - FireDrone: Multi-Environment Thermally Agnostic Aerial Robot Wiley - Advanced Intelligent Systems 2025 Best Poster in IEEE Robosoft Workshop HARDER Robosoft 2025 2025 Best Poster at IEEE Robosoft 2024 Workshop Soft Aerial Robotics Robosoft 2025 2025