Franziska Mathis-Ullrich

Prof. Dr. Franziska Mathis-Ullrich is a Professor at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) leading the Surgical Planning and Robotic Cognition Lab (SPARC) in the Department of Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) from 2019 to 2023. Her research focuses on minimally invasive robotic systems, soft robotics, and embedded machine learning for surgical applications. She holds a PhD in Microrobotics from ETH Zurich (2017), with earlier degrees from the same institution.

Education:

• B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics (ETH Zurich, 2009–2012)
• Ph.D. in Microrobotics (ETH Zurich, 2017)

Research Interests: Minimally invasive medical robotics, soft robotic systems, AI-driven surgical assistance, microrobotics, and robot-assisted surgery. Her work emphasizes translating robotics innovations into clinical applications through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Key Awards:

• IEEE ICRA Best Paper Award in Medical Robotics (2014)
• IEEE BioRob Best Student Paper Award (2016)
• ICRA Microassembly Challenge First Prize (2014 & 2015)
• Forbes 30 under 30 (2017)

Grants & Projects: Leading a Bavarian State Ministry-funded project on endometriosis diagnostics (€3M). Active in multidisciplinary collaborations with Erlangen University Hospital. Serves as Vice-President of the German Society for Computer- and Robot-assisted Surgery (CURAC).

Labs & Teams: Directs the SPARC Lab, which develops cognitive robotic systems for surgical planning and execution. Collaborates with institutions like Max Planck, Fraunhofer, and Helmholtz.