Nadia Figueroa

Nadia Figueroa is the Shalini and Rajeev Misra Presidential Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) Department at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds secondary appointments in Computer and Information Science (CIS) and Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE), and is a core faculty member at the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) Laboratory. Before joining Penn, she was a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT's CSAIL under Prof. Julie A. Shah and earned her Ph.D. at EPFL with Prof. Aude Billard. Her academic journey includes research roles at DLR and NYU Abu Dhabi, along with degrees from Monterrey Tech (B.Sc.) and TU Dortmund (M.Sc.).

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Robotics, Control and Intelligent Systems, EPFL (2019)
  • M.Sc. in Automation and Robotics, TU Dortmund
  • B.Sc. in Mechatronics, Monterrey Tech

Her research focuses on adaptive intelligence for robots to learn from and interact with humans, emphasizing fluid collaboration in safety-critical applications. Key areas include reactive control algorithms, human-robot co-manipulation, and real-time navigation. Techniques integrate machine learning, control theory, and perception to ensure stability, safety, and robustness in dynamic environments.

Recent work trends highlight reactive motion policies for imitation learning, dynamical systems modulation with non-convex obstacles, and EEG-based intent detection for assistive robotics. She also explores soft robotics with MORF systems and SE(3) control for end-effector precision. Her publications reflect interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of robotics, AI, and human biomechanics.

She has taught MEAM-520 Introduction to Robotics at Penn and served as Head Teaching Assistant at EPFL for courses like MICRO-401 Machine Learning Programming. Her Figueroa (Human-Centered) Robotics Lab, established in 2022, collaborates with institutions like MIT and EPFL to advance fluid human-robot autonomy.