Inside Out: How Robotics is Reinventing Medicine - Swissnex in Boston and New York

Robots are getting smaller, softer, and smarter — and they could soon be heading into the human body. Recent advances in robotics are opening new frontiers in medicine, from microscopic machines that can navigate the bloodstream to deliver drugs precisely where they’re needed, to soft robots that can safely interact with delicate tissues and organs. The result could be treatment that is more targeted, less invasive, and gentler on the patient.

Swissnex and the ETH Alumni Association present a discussion with experts in robotics, engineering, and medicine, including Bradley Nelson, a pioneer in micro- and nanorobotics research at ETH Zurich, and Gioele Zardini, who studies design and control of complex and autonomous systems at MIT. Together they will explore how advances in scale, materials, intelligence, and autonomy could transform the way we monitor, treat, and interact with the human body.

Join us to discover what these technologies can do, how they could evolve in the next few years, and the what’s still needed to bring them into clinical practice.

This event is presented in collaboration with the ETH Alumni Association, part of a series of briefings on strategic developments in key industries and innovation sectors.

Program

5:30pm – Doors Open
6:00pm – Opening Remarks
6:10pm – Panel Discussion
6:50pm – Q&A
7:00pm – Networking Reception
8:00pm – End

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Event start time

Boston
6:00PM

Speakers

Bio

Bradley Nelson
Professor of Robotics
and Intelligent Systems
ETH Zurich
Bradley J. Nelson is Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich, where he leads research at the intersection of microrobotics, nanorobotics, and medicine. With over 30 years of experience in robotics, his work focuses on developing intelligent machines at the millimeter-to-nanometer scale, with applications including minimally invasive medicine and targeted therapies.
Bio

Gioele Zardini
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
MIT
Gioele Zardini is the Rudge (1948) and Nancy Allen Assistant Professor at MIT, where he is a Principal Investigator in the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on developing computational and algorithmic approaches for the design of complex interconnected systems and autonomous decision-making, spanning autonomous systems, future mobility, planning and control, and game theory.

He received his doctoral degree in 2024 from ETH Zurich, and holds both a BSc. and a MSc. in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, Systems and Control from ETH Zurich.
Bio

Stefania Konstantinidi
Postdoctoral Fellow
Soft and Micro Robotics Laboratory
MIT
Stefania Konstantinidi is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT, jointly affiliated with the Soft and Micro Robotics Laboratory and the Aerial and Underwater Robotics Laboratory. She completed her PhD at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in the Laboratory for Integrated Actuators and the Center for Artificial Muscles, where she developed soft actuators for biomedical applications. She was awarded with the Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility Fellowship to complete her postdoctoral research. Her work bridges soft robotics, materials engineering, and biomechanics, drawing inspiration from biological tissues to create adaptive robotic systems and implantable technologies that restore natural movement.