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EPFLoop ready to roll in Los Angeles

— The finals of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition will take place this Sunday. The crowning race will play out in an airless tube, and EPFL’s student team is among the top three contenders.

An autonomous car algorithm runs robots

— Two dozen EPFL Master’s students recently took part in a unique race where the competitors were tandems of students and robots. This challenge put the students’ programming skills to the test, in pursuit of enhanced methods of human-machine interaction.

Engineering heat out of metro tunnels

— Researchers at EPFL have precisely quantified convection heat transfer in rail tunnels. Using the new model, they estimated how much energy Lausanne could save by fitting the future M3 metro line with a geothermal heat-recovery system, in what would be a world first.

Carbon-neutral fuels move a step closer

— Chemists at EPFL have developed an efficient process for converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, a key ingredient of synthetic fuels and materials.

EPFLoop team unveils bold and ultralight capsule

— The team of EPFL students – who qualified for this summer’s Hyperloop Pod Competition in Los Angeles – unveiled a prototype they hope will bring home a win.

Record solar hydrogen production with concentrated sunlight

— A smart device is capable of producing large amounts of clean hydrogen. By concentrating sunlight, their device uses a smaller amount of the rare, costly materials that are required to produce hydrogen, yet it still maintains a high solar-to-fuel efficiency.

Lausanne Racing Team unveils an electric racing car

— EPFL is set to make its debut in Formula Student this year, pitting a brand-new electric racing car developed by Lausanne Racing Team – and unveiled at an event at the Rolex Learning Center on Tuesday, 9 April – against other universities in races held across Europe.

Examining the highly organized lives of long-distance commuters

— When both parents face lengthy commutes to work, how do families handle the additional stress? An EPFL scientist took an in-depth look at the strategies these parents use for managing their time wisely and dealing with unexpected challenges.

Cable cars could reshape urban landscapes

— For his thesis at EPFL, Fernando Simas studied how cable cars could be an appealing transportation option for city commuters, and how they could be incorporated into tomorrow’s urban landscapes.

EPFLoop in the running again

— The EPFLoop team – which took home third place in last year’s Hyperloop Pod Competition – has been selected to compete again, making it one of around 20 short-listed teams that will head to California this summer.

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