From crazy ideas to early prototypes – ETH Exploration Lab
How does an idea become a good product? Turning it into a prototype allows for rapid testing and is the key to improving the idea step by step. Experience the process by designing your own propeller on the touchscreen. During the subsequent flight test, you’ll find out whether you’ve focused on the right features and the right idea.
There are many ideas for new products. For companies, however, the crucial question is which ones will work—and how to turn a new idea into a new product as quickly as possible. The key lies in rapid learning, and the key to rapid learning is rapid testing. That’s why prototypes are built. The ETH Exploration Lab demonstrates this using the example of a simple toy propeller.
It all starts with an idea: What should the propeller look like, and what should it be capable of? Using a touchscreen, visitors design their own propeller: number of blades, blade shape, angle of attack, and moment of inertia. 3D printers demonstrate live how a digital design is transformed into a real component—and that a perfect digital design is far from guaranteed to work perfectly in reality. From a box of pre-printed propellers, visitors select the model that most closely matches their design.
Then it’s time for testing. Three prototypes are launched simultaneously on the propeller launcher so they can be compared fairly. Which one flies highest, longest, and most stably? Through direct comparison, visitors learn, on the one hand, what really matters in a good propeller. On the other hand, visitors see how a test must be set up so that it truly puts the key characteristics to the test.
Turning ideas into an initial, imperfect prototype within a week—one that can be used to learn from and then build the next, improved prototype: That is precisely the core competency of the Exploration Lab.
Further information:
Applications for the next round of the ETH Exploration Lab are now open!
Students can participate in the ETH Exploration Lab through lectures, internships, and thesis projects.
Previous partner companies: Bühler, VAT, Audi, Siemens, V-Zug, Bossart, and many more for 2026.
