• Assistant Professor and Researcher in Collaborative Human-Aware Robotics •
I am the Shalini and Rajeev Misra Presidential Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) Department at the University of Pennsylvania; and faculty advisor at the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) laboratory. Before joining Penn, I was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Interactive Robotics Group of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), advised by Prof. Julie A. Shah.
I obtained a Ph.D. in Robotics, Control and Intelligent Systems from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), advised by Prof. Aude Billard.
Prior to this, I spent time as a Research Assistant in the Robotics and Mechatronics Institute at the German Aerospace Center and at NYU Abu Dhabi. I hold a B.Sc. in Mechatronics from Monterrey Tech and M.Sc. in Automation and Robotics from TU Dortmund.
Research Group
My main research interest focuses on developing collaborative human-aware robotic systems: robots that can safely and efficiently interact and physically collaborate with humans in the human-centric dynamic spaces we inhabit.
This involves research at the intersection of machine learning, control theory, artificial intelligence, perception, and psychology - with a physical human-robot interaction perspective.
Interested in working with me?
Contact me if:
You are a UG/MSE student enrolled at Penn MEAM/ROBO and searching for research experience.
You are applying to Ph.D. program at Penn MEAM and would like to be advised by me.
You are searching for post-doc opportunities.
Please include your CV, link to relevant publication/s (if applicable) and a short statement describing your research interests. Before contacting me, I recommend everyone to read my research statement and commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion.
I will create a lab community and culture that allows for science and novel ideas to flourish through respectful, inclusive, and equitable treatment of others. In other words, I will strive to lead a lab that is a safe place for all its members to feel that they belong and that
their voice is heard and important. Discrimination, harassment, and bullying create hostile environments that can substantially reduce science’s advancement by marginalizing individuals and communities, reducing productivity and healthy exchange of ideas. Any form of discrimination and harassment in my lab (based on ethnic or national origin, race, religion, citizenship, language, political opinions, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, age, or economic class) will be rejected. The members involved in such cases will be evaluated. Any type of bullying or inappropriate behavior between my lab members will also be subject to evaluation and external mediation, including myself. My ultimate goal is to train students and researchers that will make a positive impact on our society. Hence, I will encourage my lab members to get involved in community development and engagement programs of their choice. Such community development efforts will be an integral part of their scientific upbringing in my lab.
Shalini and Rajeev Misra Presidential Assistant Professor
University of Pennsylvania Address: 270 Towne Building, 220 S. 33rd Street, Philadelphia PA, 19104 Email: nadiafig [at] seas [dot] upenn [dot] edu
Upcoming Events
[May 23, 2022] Co-organizing an IEEE ICRA 2022 Workshop on Collaborative Robots and the Work of the Future, details here!
[Jan. 12-22, 2021] Co-organized a virtual screening (Jan. 15-22) and co-moderated a panel discussion (Jan. 22) of the film Picture a Scientist with an incredible group of female scientists from MIT, see event description , for more details you can find the a full post-event debrief report here .
[May 2022] I'll have a very busy week at ICRA 2022 (in Philly!) organizing workshops, chairing sessions, networking events and demos! See upcoming events above. .
[July 2021] Our work on provably safe and efficient motion planning with uncertain human dynamics [assisted dressing] (led by Shen Li) will be presented at RSS 2021!
[Mar. 2021] Our work on understanding robot controllers via sampling (led by Yilun Zhou and Serena Booth) got a shoutout in the MIT News!
[Feb. 2020] I was a finalist for the prestigious Georges Giralt PhD award for the best doctoral thesis in robotics in Europe in 2020. The award ceremony (see pic) was held Malaga (Spain) during the ERF 2020 Forum
[May 2019] At ICRA 2019 I gave a tutorial on "Dynamical System-based Learning from Demonstration". Together with my PhD advisor and colleagues we will present the DS-learning methods developed in the lab and how to use them for different applications.
Invited Talks and Lectures
[May 2022] Two-part interview for the WeLEAP Enlightening Talks series youtube link .
[Dec. 2019] Finalist for the EPFL Doctoral Program distinction . This distinction is granted to a selection of very high quality theses, in order to highlight the doctoral candidates’ research work and their scientific merit.
[Sept. 2019] Nominated for the Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Ltd. Award . The prize is awarded for particularly excellent master’s and/or doctoral work in the fields of energy/information/automation technology.
[HRI 2016] Selected as a Human-Robot Interaction Pioneer for the HRI Pioneers workshop which identifies and empowers the world’s top student researchers early in their careers.
• Learning Stable Dynamical System (DS) Representations of Complex Motions from Demonstrations: • Task and Joint Space Approaches applied to Manipulation, Navigation and Co-Manipulation
Treasurer of the Researchers and Postdocs Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (RPA3) within the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at MIT for the 2020-2021 Academic Year.
Community Development and Diversity Co-Chair of the RPA3 within the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at MIT for the 2020-2021 Academic Year.
Member of the MIT Postdoc Association - Advocacy and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (PDA-DE&I). Within this committee I was part of the team of postdocs
that conducted and analyzed results on the "Postdoc Hiring and Recruitment at MIT Survey" with the initial goal of examining the impact hiring and recruiting has on the diversity of the postdoc population at MIT.
The full report of our survey analysis can be found here .
Member of the CSAIL Postdoc and Graduate Student Council (CPGSC) at MIT CSAIL. This council was formed this year by Prof. Daniela Rus in an effort to tackle issues important to the CSAIL community of graduate students and postdocs such as DE&I, harrasment, mental health and faculty relations.
Member of the CSAIL Ahead Committee led by Prof. Daniel Jackson focused on improving community and culture at CSAIL.
Mentor within the Minds Matter Boston (MMB) program for the Junior Class of 2020-2021.
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