Barbara Mazzolai is the coordinator for the Center of Micro-BioRobotics at the Genoa-based Italian Institute of Technology, and the vice director of IIT’s Network Centers. After graduating in Biological Sciences from the University of Pisa, she obtained a Master’s degree in Environmental Control and Management, became a research assistant at the Center for Research in Microengineering at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and, in 2009, a team leader at the Center for Micro-BioRobotics. A year later she went on to win the “Marisa Bellisario” award for her scientific work and for having managed the “DustBot” project, and, in 2013 she won the Italian Republic’s Senate Medal. She is now a visiting scholar at the Aerial Robotics Lab at Imperial College London’s Aeronautics Department. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.