Hello Robot: BFH brings robotics to shopping centres

Hello Robot explores how humans and robots can work together in future. Visitors can experience robotics designed with people in mind through hands-on activities.

At one station, you choose a pattern, and a robot brings it to life. At another, you build a tower with blocks, and the robot mirrors your creation. A third station lets you combine simple code blocks to change a robot’s actions; or you can speak to a robot and see it respond.

The exhibition vividly demonstrates how new approaches to human-machine interaction are making robots more accessible. The potential for simple, flexible interaction with robots opens up exciting new applications for robotics in fields as diverse as manufacturing, construction and healthcare, far beyond the experimental setting of Hello Robot.

Hello Robot on Tour

The travelling exhibition Hello Robot has been set up by BFH’s strategic thematic field Humane Digital Transformation.  It will open on 7 August at the Coop Centre Bahnhof Biel-Bienne before travelling to various shopping centres in the region. Visit Hello Robot at a Coop location near you:

• Coop Centre Bahnhof Biel-Bienne: 7 to 19 August 2025
• Schönbühl Center: 21 August to 2 September 2025
• Wankdorf Center, Bern: 4 to 16 September 2025
• Heimberg Center: 18 to 30 September 2025
• Lyssach Center: 2 to 14 October 2025
• Center Boujean, Biel: 16 to 28 October 2025
• Ilfis Center, Langnau im Emmental: 30 October to 11 November 2025

Who are the experts behind the robots?

• Social Robot (Learn): Sang-il Kim and Thomas Bürkle, School of Engineering and Computer Science
• Tower Building (Teach): Norman Baier, School of Engineering and Computer Science
• Tic Tac Toe (Play): Lucas Renfer, School of Engineering and Computer Science
• Robot Roofing (Create): Maria Smigielska, School of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering