Around one hundred ETH Zurich bachelor's students split into eleven teams and spent two semesters taking Focus projects from idea and design through sponsorship and production. Two prototypes aimed at conservation work in very different habitats: a robot built to move through tree canopies and another designed to assist coral growing underwater.

MONKEE uses two arms and three adhesion points to climb vertically and sideways while adapting to different trunks and surfaces. Its modular platform could eventually carry sensors, sampling tools, or carbon-dioxide instruments into a canopy. ReefRanger combines cameras, sensors, and machine learning to recognize table corals, navigate toward them, and deliver nutrients or probiotics through a soft feeding mechanism meant to protect delicate tissue.

These were student engineering demonstrations, not deployed conservation services. The projects show what focused prototypes can test: whether a machine can hold to changing bark, or approach living coral without a rigid tool causing harm. The environmental benefit remains a goal to validate beyond the exhibition floor and controlled demonstrations.