Robotics Hackathon 2025: Ambitious builders compete in Zurich
From 9 to 11 May, Zurich hosted the inaugural Robotics Hackathon 2025, bringing together ambitious innovators to design and build robots. This intense and inspiring weekend was initiated and organised by three ETH Zurich students.
As the robotic arm carefully assembled a colourful LEGO duck based on nothing more than a voice command, a wave of excitement rippled through the room. This wasn’t just a playful demonstration, it was a glimpse into the cutting-edge of robotics innovation, brought to life by some of the brightest minds in Switzerland and beyond.
A new stage for cutting-edge robotics talent
A robotics hackathon challenges teams to design, build, and programme robotic systems — often under tight time constraints and focused on a specific theme. Projects are judged on innovation, functionality, and impact, with top teams earning prizes.
Despite Zurich’s reputation as a hub for technical excellence, the city had not yet hosted a robotics hackathon comparable to events in San Francisco, Paris, or London. “Many local events have focused on business pitches or were limited to a single university or region,” explains Anirudhh Ramesh, a computer science student at ETH Zurich and co-organiser of Robotics Hackathon 2025. “While valuable, these formats didn’t always attract the most technically ambitious participants or highlight Swiss talent on a global stage.”
Inspired by the remarkable talent density at ETH Zurich and EPFL, Ramesh saw an opportunity to do more. Together with his peers Simon Sure (computer science student and lead of the Google Developer Student Club at ETH Zurich) and Pascal Bertrand (physics student and organiser of the Optiver Datathon), he launched Zurich Builds. With support from leading robotics companies and researchers, they set out to create an event that would attract and challenge top technical talent while raising international visibility for the Swiss robotics community.
Bringing together the best minds
Interest in the event far exceeded expectations: over 220 applicants competed for just 30 coveted spots. The final cohort included students and researchers from ETH Zurich, EPFL, and participants from Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, and the UK.
The selected participants were organised into six teams of four to six members, combining pre-formed groups and individuals to ensure a balanced mix of expertise. This approach led to unique collaborations, such as the winning team, which brought together doctoral students in robotics and master’s students who might otherwise never have worked together.
A technically rigorous event
This hackathon stood out for its uncompromising technical focus. The goal was to set a new benchmark for robotics hackathons in Switzerland, inspiring participants from Switzerland and beyond to push the boundaries of what is possible.
The organisers themselves are ambitious students, engineers and researchers, among them staff from OpenAI, Mimic Robotics, and Loki Robotics, and ETH Zurich students with experience at Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, and Optiver.
Intense days: From kickoff to live demo
The hackathon opened on Friday at Mimic Robotics in Zurich Oerlikon, with keynote talks from the Zurich Builds team, technical experts from Mimic, Loki, and OpenAI, and a presentation by General Catalyst, a co-organiser and venture capital firm backing European companies like Mistral and EthonAI.
The atmosphere was electric: teams dived straight into coding and prototyping, with a strong emphasis on hands-on experimentation. Over a dozen robotics professionals from co-organising companies were on-site to support participants with everything from 3D printing to troubleshooting robotic arms.
Overnight accommodations were available at the venue, with some participants choosing nearby Airbnbs. The catering ranged from fresh sandwiches to Indian and Chinese cuisine, keeping teams fuelled throughout the weekend.
Judging and awards
By Sunday afternoon, teams showcased their prototypes at the Swiss Game Hub to a distinguished panel of judges: Prof. Marc Pollefeys, Prof. Marco Hutter, and Prof. Robert Katzschmann (ETH Zurich); Lucas Beyer (OpenAI); Elvis Nava (Mimic Robotics); Antonio Arbues and Miks Ozols (Loki Robotics); and the Zurich Builds team.
Judging focused on three pillars: engineering excellence, creativity, and live demonstrations. No slide decks were allowed. To ensure fairness, each team’s starting point and composition were transparently shared with the jury.
Winning innovations
The winning team impressed the jury with a robot that could build LEGO models based on voice commands. By combining OpenAI’s voice and vision models, the robot interpreted spoken requests (such as “build a duck”), generated an image, and assembled the LEGO pieces using classical robotics techniques.
The runner-up team created an interactive tic-tac-toe game, where a robotic arm played against humans, complete with witty, taunting voice commentary. This playful design was a crowd favourite.
Prizes included OpenAI Pro subscriptions and certificates, but for many, the greatest reward was the network and inspiration built over the weekend. The event closed with an informal gathering at the Swiss Game Hub, where participants exchanged ideas and celebrated their achievements.
The organising team was enthusiastic about the success of this first edition and especially praised the commitment and passion of all participants.
Looking ahead
Although the hackathon began as a spontaneous initiative to energise Zurich’s robotics ecosystem, the organisers are considering future editions, provided they can assemble an equally strong team of technical and research co-organisers. Co-organiser Anirudhh Ramesh notes: “We want even more ETH Zurich students to join next time! Our goal is to foster ambition, talent, and excellence in Swiss research and engineering.”
The message is clear: Switzerland has world-class talent, and now is the time to build ambitious start-ups and shape the future of robotics beyond traditional industrial paths.